Quotes on Suffering

"We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love and goodness that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ who suffered with infinite love."

~ Pope Benedict XVI
Spe Salvi

"It is normal to be profoundly touched by the suffering of another who is dear to us, but if, because of this, we torment ourselves to the point of losing our peace, this signifies that our love for the other person is still not fully spiritual, is still not in harmony with God. It is a love that is still too human and, without doubt, egotistical, whose foundation is not sufficiently based on an unshakable confidence in God. . . . We cannot bear the suffering of others because we are afraid of suffering ourselves. . . . One thing is certain: God loves our dear ones infinitely more than we do, and infinitely better. He wants us to believe in this love. . ."

~Fr. Jacques Philippe
Searching For & Maintaining Peace