Nikola Stankovic
CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING
Apostolic Letter of Pope Ivan Pavia I I . Salvifici Doloris
In L'osservatore romano of l and . February of this year, the apostolic was published
letter of Pope John Paul II. "On the Christian meaning of human suffering."
with the opening words Salvifici doloris. The letter was addressed to the Catholic Church,
to bishops, priests, religious men and women believers, and napi¬
it is celebrated at the end of the Holy Year and the beginning of Lent.
Connecting the theme of suffering with the extraordinary jubilee church year
nom, the Pope warns that this is a topic that affects every person. suffering,
namely, it affects the very nature of man and is as deep as man himself. Cov¬
he is called to transcend it, and this is where man's transcendence is shown.
She is a challenge for man to be strong. It must be admitted that in human history,
there was an attempt to make man resist suffering and evil and thus his own
save yourself by force. We know that all such attempts ended in capitulation,
if not by the explicit recognition that this is theoretically impossible for a mortal man
Rhaetian and practical. And the Pope admits in this letter that it seems that "he is suffering".
it is in one way or another inextricably connected with the human earth
simple existence". It would be enough to recall thinkers such as Pascal and Kierkegaard to understand how suffering penetrated to the deepest
human core.
In our time, the issue of suffering is becoming increasingly acute, and the world
atheism rejects the "Good God" who allows people to suffer more and more harshly. It's not
suffering is a problem only for atheists. And believers would often wish for their own appeasement
a clearer answer about its foundation, core and meaning. The church felt that it was giving
the time is ripe to try again to give a Christian answer to this
eternal human question. Although he feels compassion and respect for the suffering,
faith gives the Church the courage to touch what seems untouchable -
man in his suffering looks like an "untouchable secret". The human world
Suffering is far wider than physical pain. Even St. letter represents u
The Pope's Letter as "a great book about suffering". It would be enough to take a look
that Book to see what it says about the dangers of death, about one's own death
children, about the death of the first-born and only son, about longing for the homeland, about exiles,
about a hostile environment, about loneliness, about abandonment, about infidelity
and ingratitude, about the misfortune of one's own people, etc. That's enough
There is also an example from his own life that a person experiences something bad and becomes a sufferer
nobody. "It can be said that a man suffers because of a good, in which he has no part, from
which he was excluded in some way or which he deprived himself of". Human suffering is in
He presents the letter "as a 'world' for itself, which exists together with man".
To the question: "Why suffering?" The letter does not respond with a definition that would
could satisfy everyone immediately. The space for an answer is not even our understanding
desire for justice: God rewards good and punishes evil. Although it is our
forehead true, it cannot, however, be applied without distinction and discernment.
Already Job does not accept the principle that equates suffering with punishment for sin.
However, it cannot be said that suffering has nothing to do with a sinful situation. Job, though
innocent, he must prove his righteousness by suffering. Every pain, therefore,
it does not have to be a punishment for personal sin. That's why we have to be careful that the term
We do not deprive the "righteousness" found in Revelation of its richer meaning
rather than our notions of "righteousness"based on interpersonal experience
relationships, and they are conditioned by a sinful situation.
Suffering can be interpreted as God's pedagogic measure in man
it restores good again, but that is not yet the answer to the question: »Why suffering?«
It is clear from the passage of this letter that all our human responses come from this world of ours
thoughts and situations remain incomplete and cannot shed light on the mystery of suffering. Koli¬
whoever suffering is a challenge to overcome it, at the same time it obscures others
opens our horizon to penetrate the entire reality. That's why the Pope came
It gives rise to a new element in our world, which, however, is not from our world
eat. He sets his sights on "the revelation of divine love as the deepest source."
the meaning of everything that is". All other human interpretations of suffering remain incomplete
stout. A man can penetrate as much as he is into the meaning of secret suffering
"capable of understanding the depth of divine love". It goes on to say: »The light of revelation must be accepted, not only if it brings a transcendental order
justice, but if it illuminates that order with love, which is the last
the source of everything that exists".
In Scripture it is shown that our natural order of being is not a context in
to which a satisfactory answer can be given to the question of suffering. The answer
that question should be looked for in the dimension of redemption. Transcendental corri¬
The forces of evil are more accessible in sin and death, the Pope is convinced. »They lie in you
in the midst of losing eternal life.« The son's mission is precisely to winsin and death, and not only as "eschatological evil" (so that man does not die
but to have eternal life), but also to banish the dominion of death from history.
Death no longer has the last word.
With what will Christ accomplish this? It sounds paradoxical for a man that Christ
he himself suffers in order to overcome suffering. Through death and resurrection, he overcomes suffering and
death. He took upon himself the suffering, aware of his redemptive power, in obedience
affection towards the Father, but at the same time connected to him with the love with which he loves
and the world and people in the world. Jesus - the man who suffers, on whom they are burdened
the sins of all of us are also God's only begotten Son in person: God from God.
This is how all human guilt and suffering was redeemed. »The Redeemer endures
the place of man and for the sake of man". Thus, suffering becomes creative, and not with it
the suffering of Christ. Every man is called to persevere in suffering
he says his "moral greatness and spiritual maturity". If Christ is redeemed
drank every human suffering and accepted it into his plan for the restoration of the world,
by uniting his suffering with Christ's, man also becomes active
in the transformation of this world. If a person participates in the sufferings of Christ
ma, "in its own way, complements that suffering with which Christ redeemed
the world". By taking up his cross, man unites himself with Christ, and thus little-
little by little the salvific meaning of suffering becomes clearer.
Human suffering can thus be found as salutary only in the shadow of spa¬
of the glorious sign of the cross of Christ, and yet the cross itself must not be observed
you apart from the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A man who understands that
he will not only try to put his inevitable sufferings under the sign of the Cross, no¬
because of his Christian nature, all those who suffer will be affected by that spa¬
the soporific power with which Christ warmed him. That is why he will be like the Samaritan
turned to those who are suffering and to bring them the hope with which Christ endowed him.
In this sense, the Pope claims that the parable of the Samaritan "became one of
essential components of moral culture and universal human civilization".
This letter renews the invitation to everyone to be "witnesses of love and
suffering".
If in this apostolic letter we look for the meaning of suffering in the natural way
act, we will be disappointed. Here, namely, there is always in the background the belief that
man cannot be understood from the man himself, but, according to the Christian understanding of man, it is possible to understand him from the secret of the incarnate Word.Suffering also makes up a person's reality and it is possible to find meaning in it
mo in Christ's redemptive suffering. That's why the Pope says: »It is truly a miracle
the natural and at the same time human meaning of suffering. It is supernatural because
is rooted in the divine mystery of the redemption of the world, and it is deeply human
due to the fact that man finds himself, his humanity, his destiny in him
standing, one's mission".
We hope that this Pope's letter will give new momentum to the opening of Kri¬
century and its announcement, dedication to the service of brothers and preaching
hope for the final victory with Christ, the sufferer and the victor.
