are ultimately destined. St. Paul wrote, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Rm 8:18). This is not to say that the experience of temporal evils is not real suffering. Such a position is callous. It is to say that the patient enduring of sufferings in this life has a twofold value. First is that of witness. If all we have to hope for are the pleasures and triumphs of this life, then even moderate suffering may be intolerable. However, for her who hopes in the promise of eternal communion with God, even severe suffering does not represent the triumph of evil, nor does it deprive her of the expectation of perfect fulfillment. In this respect, every Christian can be a martyr, for the patient endurance of suffering-of pain and illness, of frustration and defeat, of humiliation and disgrace-in itself bears witness to the One who went before us in suffering and who opens the way to the true good that transcends every evil. The second value of suffering is the redemptive. St. Paul wrote: "In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church" (Col 1:24).

Within this lies an important truth from the theology of the body. Love is not in the accomplishment but in the gift. Christ effected our salvation not by smashing Satan with a mighty spiritual sword but by offering his body to the Father on the cross out of love for sinners.

By offering the gift of one's own bodily self in patient acceptance of suffering, the sufferer participates in that sacrifice. In his Apostolic Letter for the third millennium, John Paul II points to the "lived theology" of the saints35 and quotes St. Catherine of Siena: "Thus the soul is blissful and afflicted: afflicted on account of the sins of its neighbor, blissful on account of the union and the affection of charity which it has inwardly received. These souls imitate the spotless Lamb, my Only-begotten Son, who on the Cross was both blissful and afflicted."36 Precisely here is the mysticism that lies at the heart of the faith we all share. The patient and redemptive acceptance of even ordinary sufferings is a participation in the love of the Father and the Son within the Trinity. It is a distinctive and privileged way to know Christ because it is an imitation and sharing of his sacrifice of love.

Adam and Eve's original solitude was overcome in their mutual communion, a communion so profound that it shares in God's creative work. Protected by shame from our lusts, we their children can share this communion and so experience something of their original joy, the joy of

35 John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte, no. 27. 36 St. Catherine of Siena, Dialogue of Divine Providence, cited in John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millenneo Ineunte, no. 27.

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Human Suffering and John Paul II's Theology of the Body

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