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+ October 2008 Issue 1.9 Quo Vadis Newsletter Suffering
Our Boy ~ By Rob Rodgers Catechism Quote of the Month Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me ~ By Ashley Parker Pope Quote Why Does a Good God Permit Evil? ~ By Mary Clare Piecynski Did you know? ~ The Saints and Suffering The Role of the Cross in Christian Suffering ~ By Mary Clare Piecynski Book of the Month ~ Come Rack! Come Rope! Novena of the Month
Our Boy By Rob Rodgers By no means is this an attempt to explain the suffering of children in a purely theological sense. However, I would strongly recommend obtaining a copy of Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Lettter Salvific Doloris, in which the reader gains a clear understanding of the necessity of our suffering in humanity. I am but a father who experienced the death of his son at the age of two, moreover, Ambrose was not your regular child his cross was two random genetic syndromes – CHARGE & Klienfelters. What I hope to accomplish in this undertaking is to explain his impact on our lives, the meaning of his life, through suffering, and his death. Ambrose lived a life of suffering, however, he met each day with joy. Ambrose Robert Frank was born to my wife Bernadette and I at just past 4:21am on February 6th, 2006. He, as was our older child, was born at home under the loving care of a God-fearing mid-wife. The pregnancy was normal and the trimesters passed without complications as we prepared for the gift of another life. It was not until Ambrose entered the world that our lives changed. As he struggled for his first breath I experienced the longest seconds of my life. Though, in hindsight, God was merely preparing us for what was to come. A child is the most amazing gift God gives to us; we in our fallen state are entrusted with the innocence of heaven. This precious life was turned upside down on February 8th shortly after 10:00pm. Bernadette and I sat on the sofa with Ambrose upon our laps. My beautiful wife and I were enjoying our son and taking in the growth of our family. Without warning, Ambrose stopped breathing, began to turn blue and blood began to run from his nose. I ran for the phone as Bernadette in her mothering tone began to speak to him and try to breath for him. The squad arrived and we rushed off to hospital. Our small town hospital was not equipped to deal with infant crises, so a call was placed to Children’s Hospital in Columbus. In the middle of the night we followed the flashing lights as the mobile NICU transported our two-day-old son into the dark. We sat in the NICU waiting area until roughly 4:00am when we were finally able to go in and see him. Ambrose was a mass of medical machinery; however, even with all his wires and tubes he looked at utter peace. The next two days were filled with test after test, question upon question as the medical team sought to diagnose Ambrose. We sat and watched our precious gift of life go through more testing then most experience in their lives. From the safety of the womb, Ambrose entered a world that seemed to attack him with every breath. He knew nothing but love; however, the world seemed full of so much pain and confusion. With his enigma erased, Ambrose was found to be blind, with little hearing, congenital heart disease, irregular throat development, an inability to swallow, and having one abnormal kidney. I remember weeping for our first son, my son would not experience the joys of life I had dreamed for him, he would live a life of struggle for the basic needs we take for granted. Doctors gave us days, which rolled into weeks, then sent us home telling us to make him comfortable for what time we have with him. Ambrose taught everyone about joy within suffering and a desire to live. He smashed every obstacle put before him, coming through open-heart surgery at eight months of age and for two years he did not cease to amaze me. Sitting, standing, communication through signs, emotional development, recognition of individuals, Ambrose accomplished feat after feat while existing in a world that he could not see or fully understand. Moreover, it was the world that brought pain for no reason. From needles, to operations, to blood pressure, he was poked, cut, and squeezed without preparation; however, his shock was always met by parental love. March 2nd of this year Ambrose did amaze us, he did not come back as he had done maybe a dozen times in the previous two years. Somewhere after six in the morning, with mum, dad and his evening nurse at his side Ambrose took his last breath. He was at home in is bed (the safest and happiest place on earth) when a blood clot reached his pulmonary artery. The majority of medical advice said he would have passed in the first days to weeks of his life, due to the severity of his condition. In the end, Ambrose thrived in a life that seemed constantly lived on the edge. Ironically it was a simple clot, something you or I might suffer that took him to his eternal home. Ambrose was at peace, no doubt ready to enter bliss after suffering more then many will know in their lives. He committed no sin, his hands brought no pain, his voice no slander to God and yet his life was one of suffering. We could spend a life asking the question “why?” However, there is something greater than Solomon, more than the temple, we have a living God. God became man, and God suffered in human form more then any of us will ever know. He suffered, that we might believe despite all the pain and abandonment, that the Kingdom of God waits for those who profess His eternal truth. Ambrose offers us a choice, something I would often speak of, something, however, I prayed not to meet – a piece of a Jobian day. If I am to bless God, it does nothing to only do such in good times, it must also be done in what we deem evil. (Brachot 54a) Ambrose suffered that many might see God through his life. God loves man so much that He allows sufferings, for if He took away all suffering, all pain, we would forget what makes us human – love. In the two years that we were blessed to know our first son, I never felt closer to God outside of Divine Liturgy then when Ambrose was on my chest. His being would conform to yours and in some mystical way you felt as one. He would lay for days on your chest should it be possible. In all his pain, in his absence of sense and mobility which we take for granted, he loved like no other. In the Greek Ambrose means undying or immortal, such is his soul and such was his love. But why did he have to suffer so much? We are all bound together as God’s earthly children. As one hand is pained, so must the other act in response. This interconnection is even more profound within the family. Without faith Ambrose quite possibly would not have been here, as he does not fit the mold of the desired child. Since we were blessed to receive such a gift of life, Ambrose through his suffering, through his willingness to fight for something he could not understand – gave life not only to Bernadette and myself, but to countless others who were blessed to know this little Saint. Ambrose made a personal choice to embrace his suffering, and through such our son who could not talk, or see my face, taught me to live in a way I would not have known. He taught me of love, not only of others, but of God and myself. Ambrose crossed every “t”, and dotted every “i” in the plan of life God laid forth for him. He excelled in living the Christian life despite the absence of what we deem “normal”, he is my witness and a mighty trebuchet hurling my spiritual life to God’s will. Ambrose only suffered in vain if we side step our faith, should we hold steadfast to the Word of God, we (Ambrose) suffer(ed) that others might live. In each moment we must ask, “do we have the strength to respond as Job, to profess Gods unending love no matter the circumstance. If put to the millstone will you profess truth, or choose the easy road of lies?” My dear son, whom I miss with each beat of my heart, seared convictions to my soul through his suffering. Let Satan pour out his fury in our lives, so that we might only love our God. Ambrose is not the son I wanted; however, Ambrose was the son I needed. In my weakness to suffer, God revealed suffering through another, one who was flesh of my flesh that I might love Him more. Suffering is a lesson of embracing life; as most will profess that in suffering we see more clearly. Imagine innocence suffering everyday before your eyes, pain that you cannot stop in a life dear to your own – only then do we look at the world as God the Father looks upon His creation in man. This I imagine as God the Father looks onto man after taking human form and facing death on a Cross.
Ambrose, pray that we might meet each day with the same smile you shared to a world that seemed to wish your death.
How great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it. – St. Jerome
Catechism Quote of the Month “The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross.” CCC 2015
“Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me.” By Ashley Parker
How many of us know what suffering is like? It’s pretty awful, right? We definitely don’t want to have to suffer in this life of ours. We resist and we resist and try to wriggle out of the way of suffering. As Catechism #164 says, “Our experience of evil and suffering, injustice, and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it.”
The suffering of most significance in Scripture occurred with Jesus. He was crucified for us! For those who don’t know, crucifixion is one of the most painful forms of execution. A person is beaten until he bleeds and is then nailed hand and foot to a rough wooden cross. The splinters dig into the back and in this position it is extremely difficult to breathe. Exhaustion and loss of blood lead the arms to sag and the air supply to be cut off. One would have to push up with the legs in order to gain one breath. After a time, soldiers would break the legs of the crucified to expedite their death via essential suffocation. Jesus went through all this for us, in addition to being denied, betrayed, abandoned, spat upon, mocked, and crowned with thorns.
Let us look at Scripture, but not at the suffering Jesus endured on the cross, rather in the days before He went to Jerusalem when He was preparing His disciples for what must happen.
Mt. 16: 21-27 (NAB) Jesus began to show his disciples Then Jesus said to his disciples,
When Peter suggested that Jesus would not have to suffer, that Peter would prevent this from happening, Jesus responded very harshly—“Get behind me, Satan!” He told this obstacle to His suffering to get out of the way in no uncertain terms. If Jesus rid Himself of obstacles to suffering, if He welcomed suffering for our sake, should not we too take up our crosses as He commands in the very next verses?
We must remove the obstacles we hold against our suffering and unite what we suffer with the suffering of Christ Himself. As St. Paul says in II Corinthians 12:9 and Colossians 1:24, “..in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church.” Viewing suffering in this light, it acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus (Catechism #1521). It is good for us to embrace our sufferings, for in doing this we will find life and eternal happiness in Heaven with our Lord.
A final thought:
Let us never ask of God precisely our own ease by delivery from our tribulation, but pray for His aid and comfort by such ways as He Himself shall best like, and then may we take comfort even of our such request. For we may be sure that this mind cometh of God. And also we may be very sure that as He beginneth to work with us, so--unless we ourselves fly from Him--He will not fail to tarry with us. And then, if He dwell with us, what trouble can do us harm? “If God be with us,” saith St. Paul, “who can stand against us?” (Saint Thomas More, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation I, vi; written by More as he was imprisoned and awaiting his execution at the hands of Henry VIII)
Pope Quote of the Month “The Redeemer suffered in place of man and for man. Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the Redemption was accomplished. He is called to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has also been redeemed. In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.” John Paul II Salvifici Doloris, 19
Why Does a Good God Permit Evil? By Mary Clare Piecynski
All one has to do to encounter instances of evil is to flip open a newspaper or listen to CNN to know that evil things happen in the world. Wars are fought, children die of cancer and people are cruelly murdered. These instances burn a question into our minds: why would a good God allow evil? Though this side of heaven no answer is sufficient; we will examine the question of evil and suffering to try and discover why God being all good and just could permit such atrocities to occur in His creation. First of all, one needs to look back in time to the order God established originally for His creation. In the beginning, everything God made was “good” (Genesis 1-2), the light was good, the living creatures were good, the earth was good. Then God created man, the crowning achievement of creation and endowed him with free will. Free will is an essential way in which man is created in God’s image. God is a free being and so is man. It was thus through this beautiful, God-given ability that evil entered the world. Through Adam and Eve’s sin, original sin, the perfect natural order that God had created was destroyed and evil became a part of man’s existence. Secondly, we need to look at the nature of evil. There are actually two essential kinds of evil, moral and natural. Moral evil results from freely chosen actions while natural evil would be something like a broken arm or an earthquake or disease. Both moral and natural evil though are a result of the fall of man. Sin disrupted the natural order of things and allowed evil to become a part of everyday life. Now why would God allow evil to exist? Well, actually, evil does not have its own existence. That is because everything that exists is good (remember, everything God created He said was “good”) and for evil to exist would mean that it would have to be good and would therefore contradict what evil is (or is not). Therefore, Catholic theology has traditionally taught that evil is a privation (absence) or distortion of the good. It is essentially a lack of the good that ought to be there. How can something not exist? Well, darkness is a privation of light, cold is a privation of heat, they do not technically exist in and of themselves. So it is clear that God is not the author of evil, man’s free will is. Because evil technically does not have its own existence we cannot say that God created evil. Evil happens because of man’s free will and so is the cause of moral evil such as a person freely choosing to kill another or the free will of Adam and Eve that disrupted the natural order of things and introduced natural evil such as cancer. God, however, permits evil. Why? Because, in some mysterious way He can bring good out of it. The greatest evil that was ever committed was actually the greatest blessing that ever happened to the human race. Christ’s death was the most horrific evil but from it man was redeemed. So, even though we do not always see how good results from evil we have to trust in God’s love and mercy that He will indeed make a greater good come from evil.
Did you know? The saints have always had a particular love of suffering. They realize that it is through suffering that we become more like Christ.
“Sanctity lies not in saying beautiful things, or even in thinking them, or feeling them; it lies in truly being willing to suffer.” ~St. Therese of Lisieux
"We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials." ~St. Teresa of Avila
“True, I am in love with suffering, but I do not know if I deserve the honor.” ~St. Ignatius
The Role of the Cross in Christian Suffering. By Mary Clare Piecynski
The cross is the key in understanding New Testament spirituality for it is through the cross that man is brought into communion with his Creator. New Testament figures such as Paul see the cross as the point of which man’s nature is redeemed and humanity is able to receive salvation. Through our human natures being elevated by the cross, Christians are given grace to live spiritual lives that reflect the sufferings of Jesus Christ crucified. Then, through the redemption of man’s nature and his willing cooperation with God’s plan of salvation, God transforms men to glorious images of His Son, and allows mankind to become partakers of divine glory. The cross is therefore the must crucial concept in New Testament spirituality because through its role humanity is united with divinity. From nearly the beginning of time, man has stood in need of redemption. The fall of Adam and Eve wounded human nature and denied humanity entrance into glory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that because of the fall, “Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice.”[1] Furthermore, before Adam sinned, humanity was “constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully divinized by God in glory”[2] but after the fall man was unable to attain heavenly glory. But because man fell, God, in His grace, prepared men through the Old Testament for the ultimate sign of God’s love in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.[3] The cross would become a solution that would “deal not only with sins but with sin, and that will reconcile not only people to God but also people to one another.”[4] Jesus Christ, the divine Word, assumed a spotless human nature from the race of Adam and through His perfect sacrifice “upon the Cross, Christ Jesus not only appeased the justice of the Eternal Father which had been violated, but He also won for us, His brethren, an ineffable flow of graces.”[5] To sum up, because of the fall of humanity’s first parents, human nature remained in a wounded state until Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross. A fundamental effect of the cross upon humanity throughout New Testament spirituality is the restoration of “the dignity of human nature”[6] through abolishing sin and death and by inaugurating in a new creation. By having a spotless human nature and dying upon the cross, Christ took humanity’s fallen nature and raised it up to something even greater.[7] Christ, through His cross “ended the reign of certain alien and hostile powers, thereby effecting liberation from them and from this age and inaugurating the new age or new creation.”[8] By dying upon the cross, Christ brought about “a fundamental renewing and reorienting of life”[9] that renewed man’s nature. St Paul writes those “who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.”[10] Hence, New Testament spirituality understands that Christian’s nature is re-created by means of Baptism that is a kind of participation in the death of Christ upon the cross.[11] In short, God now accepts humanity through Jesus Christ redeeming human nature and individual men becoming re-created through baptism.[12] After receiving restored human nature through baptism, New Testament spirituality calls Christians to participate through God’s grace “in the new obedience which is no longer conformed to this world”[13] and transform their lives into images of Christ crucified. Through Jesus’ restoration of human nature, God’s grace enables Christians to become Christ-like through cooperating with this grace and living according to the will of God. Because the redemptive action of Christ’s crucifixion restores human nature, St. Paul exhorts the Colossians to live up to a higher moral standard since they “have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”[14] Further, St. Paul says to yield “your members to God as instruments of righteousness.”[15] Man’s actions can be meritorious therefore when united with the sacrifice of the cross since Jesus, “in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, the possibility of being made partners…in the paschal mystery is offered to all men.”[16] The role of the cross is to take special precedence in Christian’s spirituality since the lives of the faithful are to be specifically patterned after the image of God’s crucified, suffering Son. St. Paul exhorts Christians to “crucify their flesh and to make the dying of Jesus visible in their bodies”[17] since “the justification of the Christian is thus based on his co-dying with Christ.”[18] Finally, since Christ restores human nature to its true dignity through the cross, Christians must offer their lives to God, live uprightly and imitate Jesus crucified. The suffering of the cross is the sublime model for the Christian to imitate in order to draw closer to God through His grace for the cross is the model of how to love, namely through dying to self and suffering for the sake of the good.[19] The New Testament calls for authentic spirituality to be centered upon the cross “because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”[20] This call to suffering is compulsory, not optional, for followers of Jesus since “the cross…is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.”[21] Christ Himself commands His followers, “if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”[22] Essentially, the call to follow Jesus is “a call to share his suffering and to stand beneath his cross.”[23] St. Paul writes how Christians unite themselves to the cross through suffering, “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed…always carrying in the body the death of Jesus.”[24] Simply put, “to be a Christian means…to be identified with Christ in the fellowship of his sufferings.”[25] In summary, the cross is the most sublime example of Christian spirituality, for in imitating the suffering of the cross Christians unite themselves with Jesus Christ. Suffering for a Christian is actually the most wondrous gift given by God. The cross has given New Testament spirituality a sublime reason for suffering and has made it sacred since “it confers upon those whom it rends the most intimate resemblance to the sorrowful Son whose cross saves the world…a tortured heart committed to the Father, is the most living image of the Redeemer.”[26] There is nothing more painful for God than when His Christians consumed with suffering “despise this conformity with him which is the most beautiful thing he has to offer us.”[27] In addition, “when God loves a servant, he incites others to persecute him in order for this servant to come and draw close to him alone.”[28] Hence, Christians should accept suffering out of love for God, following Jesus’ example shown through the words He said right before the crucifixion, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”[29] An authentic Christian thus should accept suffering with love since it is a beautiful gift from God that allows us to be transformed into more exact images of the Savior. Because one should show love for God out of willing acceptance of suffering, a certain kind of joy should accompany affliction. Christ Himself, before going to Calvary, spoke of His joy that He wished to share with His followers, “that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”[30] Furthermore, St. Paul writes to the Galatians that he glories in nothing “except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”[31] In addition, St. Peter states in his epistle “rejoice in so far as you share in Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”[32] Jesus joined joy and suffering upon the cross when “from the depth of his filial joy, he assumed human suffering in order to unite them forever.”[33] John Paul II in his apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris affirms, “Joy comes from the discovery of the meaning of suffering.”[34] Furthermore, Pius XII in the encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, stated that since Christians “glory in a thorn-crowned Head…[it] is a striking proof that the greatest joy and exaltation are born only of suffering, and hence that we should rejoice if we partake of the sufferings of Christ, that when His glory shall be revealed we may also be glad with exceeding joy.”[35] In summary, suffering unites an individual more closely with Christ crucified and so suffering done out of love should produce a spirit of joy. Man, through uniting his restored human nature with Christ’s cross through suffering, now through the Resurrection has hope to also share in Christ’s glory. For St. Paul, the role of the cross in Christian’s spirituality apart from the resurrection and glorification of Jesus is “only human weakness and folly”[47] since “it is only in the light of the Resurrection that the Passion and Death of Christ can be seen in their true focus.”[48] So too, human nature being transformed then purified through grace by suffering is meaningless unless accompanied by the hope that Christians will one day be glorified along with Christ. When Christians suffer with Christ crucified, they have reason to hope to share in Christ’s Resurrection since those who share in the afflictions of Christ become worthy to share in His glory.[49] St. Peter in his epistle verifies, Christ has “called us to his own glory and excellence”[50] and similarly St. Paul affirms, “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”[51] John Paul II writes that Christ's Resurrection has revealed “the glory of the future age and…confirmed the boast of the Cross: the glory that is hidden in the very suffering of Christ and which has been and is often mirrored in human suffering, as an expression of man's spiritual greatness.”[52] For just as “Christ’s death is not the conclusion of his life story but rather the first act of a drama that culminates in God’s resurrection and exaltation of him,”[53] likewise, through human nature being redeemed and through grace offering his sufferings to God, humanity can hope to share in the glory of Christ. Simply put, “Those who share in the sufferings of Christ are also called, through their own sufferings, to share in glory.”[54] Finally, because the resurrection revealed the glory begun upon the cross, Christians hope to share in the glorious resurrection through their unity with the sufferings of the cross upon earth. The cross has a permanent role in Christian spirituality not merely because it is the symbol of man’s salvation, but because it is the enduring model for authentic Christian living. Christ’s crucifixion restored humanity’s fallen nature so people can respond through the promptings to grace to live imitating the sufferings of Christ upon the cross. Since cross is not to be separated from the Resurrection, so like Christ, Christians who imitate the sorrows of the cross can expect to share in the glories of the Resurrection. In conclusion, the cross is an icon of New Testament spirituality since it allows mankind to be united with the glorious divinity of God.
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[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second edition. (Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 2000), paragraph 417. [2] Ibid, paragraph 398. [3] E. L. Kendel. A Living Sacrifice A Study of Reparation. (London: SCM Press LTD, 1960), p. 19. [4] Micheal J Gorman. Cruciformity Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), p. 104. [5] Pius XII Mystici Corporis Christi in “Encyclicals of His Holiness Pope Pious XII.” (Washington DC: Natinoal Catholic Welfare Conference, 1943), paragraph 12. [6] Kendel, p. 42. [7] Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 412. [8] Gorman, p. 86. [9] Ibid, p. 86. [10] Rom 6:3, RSV. [11] Kendel, p 57. [12] Ibid, p. 52. [13]Jurgen Moltman. The Crucified God. Second edition. (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1973), p. 56. [14] Col 3:9, RSV. [15] Romans 6:13, RSV. [16] Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 618. [17] Moltman, p. 56. [18] George Smeaton, The Doctrine of the Atonement According to the Apostles. (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988), p. 165. [19] Gorman, p. 83. [20] 1 Peter 2:21, RSV. [21] Moltman, p. 55. [22] Mark 8:34, RSV. [23] Moltman, p. 55. [24] 2 Cor 4: 8-10, RSV. [25] Kendel. p. 55. [26] Louis Evely. Suffering. Translated by Marie-Claude Thompson. (New York: Herder and Herder, 1967), p. 71. [27] Ibid. [28] Ibid, 66. [29] John 14:31, RSV. [30] John 17:13, RSV. [31] Gal 6:14, RSV. [32] 1 Peter 4:13, RSV. [33] Evely, p. 70. [34] John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris. (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1984), paragraph 1. [35] Pius XII Mystici Corporis Christi in “Encyclicals of His Holiness Pope Pious XII.” (Washington DC: Natinoal Catholic Welfare Conference, 1943), paragraph 2. [36] Evely, p. 69. [37] John 3:16, RSV. [38] Salvifici Doloris, paragraph 14. [39] Kendel, p. 55. [40] Col 1:24, RSV. [41]John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris. (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1984), paragraph 19. [42] John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris. (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1984), paragraph 19. [43] Smeaton, p. 191. [44] E. L. Kendel. A Living Sacrifice A Study of Reparation. (London: SCM Press LTD, 1960), p. 24. [45] Lumen Gentium in “The Documents of Vatican II.” Edited by Walter M. Abbott. Translated by Joseph Gallagher. (New York: Guild Press, 1966), paragraph 34. [46] Kendel, p. 59. [47] Micheal J Gorman. Cruciformity Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), p. 87. [48] Kendel, p. 48. [49] Salvifici Doloris, paragraph 21. [50] 2 Peter 1:3, RSV. [51] Romans 6:5, RSV. [52] Salvifici Doloris, paragraph 22. [53] Gorman, p. 87. [54] Salvifici Doloris, paragraph 22.
Bibliography
Primary sources: Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second edition. Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 2000. John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris. Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1984. Lumen Gentium in “The Documents of Vatican II.” Edited by Walter M. Abbott. Translated by Joseph Gallagher. New York: Guild Press, 1966. The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1966
Secondary sources: Dillistone. F. W. The Significance of the Cross. London: Lutterworth Press, 1946. Evely, Louis. Suffering. Translated by Marie-Claude Thompson. New York: Herder and Herder, 1967. Gorman, Micheal J. Cruciformity Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001. Kendel. E. L. A Living Sacrifice A Study of Reparation. London: SCM Press LTD, 1960. Moltman, Jurgen. The Crucified God. Second edition. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1973. Pannenburg, Wolfhart. Jesus-God and Man. Second edition. Translated by Lewis L. Wilkins and Duane A. Priebe. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1977. Smeaton, George. The Doctrine of the Atonement According to the Apostles. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988.
Book of the Month Come Rack! Come Rope! By Robert Hugh Benson Come Rack! Come Rope! tells of the suffering of Catholics under Elizabeth I of England, as shown through the eyes of one Catholic family. Tragedy, divine love, and the doctrine of vocation play important roles in this early novel of faith and spiritual redemption. Available from the Coming Home Network for $19.95
Novena of the Month Prayer to Our Suffering Savior for the Holy Souls in Purgatory O most sweet Jesus, through the bloody sweat which Thou didst suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane, have mercy on these Blessed Souls. Have mercy on them. R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.
O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel scourging, have mercy on them. R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.
O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most painful crowning with thorns, have mercy on them. R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.
O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in carrying Thy cross to Calvary, have mercy on them. R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.
O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer during Thy most cruel Crucifixion, have mercy on them. R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.
O most sweet Jesus, through the pains which Thou didst suffer in Thy most bitter agony on the Cross, have mercy on them. R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.
O most sweet Jesus, through the immense pain which Thou didst suffer in breathing forth Thy Blessed Soul, have mercy on them. R. Have mercy on them, O Lord.
(Recommend yourself to the Souls in Purgatory and mention your intentions here) Blessed Souls, I have prayed for thee; I entreat thee, who are so dear to God, and who are secure of never losing Him, to pray for me a miserable sinner, who is in danger of being damned, and of losing God forever. Amen.
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