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See also the saints, suffering, victim love
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" -1 Corinthians 1:18.
"You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen" -Mk 16:6
"Only by taking the 'way of penance and renewal', the 'narrow way of the cross', can the People of God extend Christ’s reign". —Catechism of the Catholic Church #853
The Cross is the critical point of faith -Benedict XVI, homily, Nov 21, 2010. "The efficacy of our service to the Church, Bride of Christ, depends essentially on this, on our fidelity to the divine royalty of CRUCIFIED LOVE" 
The Cross is God's "yes" to mankind
Take up his cross -Benedict XVI, Aug, 2011"A Christian follows the Lord when he accepts lovingly his own cross, which in the world's eyes seems a defeat and a "loss of life", knowing that he is not carrying it alone but with Jesus, sharing his same journey of self-giving".
The Risen one is always the one who has been crucified Benedict XVI, Oct 29, 2008
Christian love of Cross Vs. pathological love of suffering -St Benedicta of the Cross. The Cross exemplifies every virtue -St Thomas Aquinas Joy of the Cross -various authors. The Cross -Fr. Jordi Rivero Jesus accepts the Cross -Jacqueline This is my hope Recommendations by Padre Pío Crucifixion agony 
The Significance of Suffering Jeff Mirus Ven. Conchita: The interior cross
"Through the external cross which all can see, I was a victim acceptable to the Father by shedding My blood, but is was above all through the interior cross that Redemption was accomplished" -S. Diary, September 7, 1896
-Leo the Great: "No degree of cruel inhumanity can destroy the religion founded on the mystery of the cross of Christ".
God permits sufferings and protects us from it There are times when He Himself allows terrible sufferings, and then again there are times when He does not let me suffer and removes everything that might afflict my soul. These are His ways , unfathomable and incomprehensible to us. It is for us to submit ourselves completely to His holy will. There are mysteries that the human mind will never fathom here on earth; eternity will reveal them. -St Faustina, Diary #1656
(The Israelites after crossing the sea) accepted as bridegroom a God with whom it was difficult to live, because Yahweh is not a God you would choose; he is a God who chooses you. Man would never choose to submit himself to such a hand, that slays in order to bring to life, if this hand had not been first stretched out to him as the hand of a savior, as the hand of the last resort reaching out when there is nothing but death ahead, the hand that drives back the waves of death and makes a despairing rabble into a people. For those who who set foot on the other side of the sea were no longer the same. - Dominique Barthelemy, God and His Image, Pg 67.
Their response was to praise God: Canticle of the sea. Ex 15: "Who is like you, Oh Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you majestic in holiness, terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?"
-St. John Chrysostom: "In themselves death and imprisonment and chains cause shame and reproach. But when ...the mystery is viewed aright, they will appear full of dignity and the matter for boasting. For it was that death on the cross that saved the world when it was perishing". Like St. Paul, St. John Chrysostom teaches that if we treasure Christ's death for us at the cross, then we will appreciate the value of our own crosses.
No other way for a Christian-Saint John Vianney: "Can the life of a good Christian be anything other than that of a man nailed to the Cross with Jesus Christ?"
-Saint Rose of Lima: "Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven"
"If you are not willing to die for your God and your brothers, at a moment's notice or by a thousand cuts and sacrifices over many years, then you do not have a religion. You have a hobby." -G.K. MacBrien
-Saint Paul of the Cross:"Live in such a way that all may know that you bear outwardly as well as inwardly the image of Christ crucified, the model of all gentleness and mercy."
-St. Francis de Sales:
The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart.
This cross He now sends you He has gazed at with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His divine justice, warmed with His loving arms, and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large, not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven – a special greeting from God to you – an alms of the all-merciful love of God. St Paul: "It was out of weakness that He was crucified, He is alive now with the power of God." 2 Cor 13:4
ALL saints exalted the cross.
"Suffering, or the Cross divinized by the Son, is the one and only ladder for reaching to the love of charity. Now do you understand the value of the Cross? Those who are most crucified are those who love the most, since suffering, the emblem of Jesus, draws to it the Three Divine Persons. We dwell in this soul and there I set up my dwelling" (Diary, July 9, 1895) The Cross with Christ; Joy in heaven -Diary #446 Uniting with Love Crucified on the Cross -Diary #923 |
Suffering for love
See also the Saints, Cross, Victim Love
| Popes John Paul II, Salvici Doloris On the meaning and power of suffering with Christ Benedict XVI, comments on Salvici Doloris Christianity proclaims joy to us, indeed; this joy, however, only develops on the path of love, and this path of love has to do with the Cross, with communion with the Crucified Christ. "The truth of love is, in a certain way, demonstrated through the truth of suffering, and the Church, born from the mystery of Redemption in the Cross of Christ, "has to try to meet man in a special way on the path of his suffering. -Benedict XVI full text Pius XII -Offer him your sufferings according to all the intentions for which he continually offers himself on the altars of our churches. Your sacrifice, united to the sacrifice of Jesus, will bring many sinners back to the Father; many without faith will find the true faith; many weak Christians will receive the strength to live fully the teaching and the law of Christ." |
Suffering and humility -St. Therese of Lisieux Significance of suffering -Jeff Mirus at Catholic Culture
Suffering and Grace 5th anniv. Ben. XVI election, Bishop Slattery
St Theresa Benedicta of the Cross Unlike sciences learned in the university, the science of the Cross "can be gained only when one comes to feel the Cross radically". Doctrine and life simply must be joined for the student who wishes to become learned in the mystery of the Cross.
She ponders the reasons for (St. John of the Cross') desire for suffering and concludes that he was not merely motivated by a desire to remember or resemble the suffering Christ but by the desire to suffer with Christ for the sake of the world, thus participating actively in its redemption. "Do you want to be totally united to the Crucified? If you are serious about this, you will be present, by the power of the Cross, at every front, at every place of sorrow, bringing to those who suffer comfort, healing, and salvation" Full text:
The contemplative vocation St. Faustina, The price of souls
Those who are like me in pain
"Then I saw the Lord Jesus nailed to the Cross. When He had hung on it for a while, I saw a multitude of souls crucified like Him. Then I saw a second multitude of souls, and a third. The second multitude were not nailed to (their) crosses, but were holding them firmly in their hands. The third were neither nailed to (their) crosses nor holding them firmly in their hands, but were dragging (their) crosses behind them and were discontent. Jesus then said to me, "Do you see these souls? Those who are like Me in the pain and contempt they suffer will be like Me also in glory. And those who resemble Me less in pain and contempt will also bear less resemblance to Me in glory. -Diary # 446
St. Bernadette
Divine love does not exist without suffering
I must die to myself continually and accept trials without complaining. I work, I suffer and I love with no other witness than His heart. Anyone who is not prepared to suffer all for the Beloved and to do his will in all things is not worthy of the sweet name of Friend, for here below, Love without suffering does not exist. It is in loving the cross that one discovers His heart, for divine Love does not exist without suffering."
Ven Conchita
The love of suffering is the love of Jesus, solid and authentic. -Conchita
May no one deprive me of this quite hidden treasure, one which is mine….
Yes, I want to hide my pain. It is now the treasure which unites me with this other treasure:
My Jesus, I am ready to drink my chalice down to the last drop …
Yes Lord, solely for covering You with glory, no matter how wretched I am"
(Conchita’s Diary, May 2, 1894).
St John M. Vianney
Suffer with; reparation
Co-heirs of God / glorified with Christ / suffer with Him
We are heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. A co-heir of Christ is one who is glorified along with Christ. The one who is glorified along with him is one who, by suffering for him, suffers along with him. S.Ambrose >>> Enter into His Suffering -Tessie Villaraus
