ST.

JOHN PAUL II’s

VIEW ON HUMAN
SUFFERING AND
CREATION OF WORLD
DAY OF THE SICK
PRELIMINARIES
Pope John Paul II, like
his Saviour and Lord,
was well acquainted
with suffering.

WHY?

1. The loss of his mother in his childhood,

2. the hardships he endured in his youth,
3. the dangerous times of living in Poland under Hitler and
4. the difficulties of the communist years all have shaped
his view of suffering.
CONT…
It is no secret that Karol
Wojtyla, as a young man
and even during the early
years of his pontificate,
was a picture of health,
vigor, and vitality.

As an athlete skilled in
soccer, swimming, canoeing
and skiing, he exhibited a
great physical presence.
CONT…

In the early 90s,

however, a series of
health problems began
to take their toll.

1. In 1992, the pope had colon surgery, involving removal of a

noncancerous tumor.
2. The next year he fell and dislocated a shoulder.
3. In 1994, he suffered a broken femur in another fall.
4. An appendectomy followed in 1996.
5. During these years, moreover, a Parkinson-like condition, if not the
disease itself, began to reveal its visible effects.
CONT…
The point of these
sobering details is
to show that John
Paul was clearly
entering the part of
his life’s journey
marked by failing
health and
suffering.
 According to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
“The pain is written on his
face. His figure is bent,
and he needs to support
himself on his pastoral
staff. He leans on the
cross, on the crucifix….”

Certainly, John Paul II

was beginning to lean on
Christ’s cross in more
ways than one.
BEARING INFIRMITIES WITH HONOR
the Cuba trip of 1998, had
a firsthand experience of
the enormous change in
the pope’s health.
In Cuba the pope’s athletic
stamina was gone. His
gait was slow and at times
shuffling, his speech was
often slurred and his hand
sometimes trembled.
NOTE:
But there was something
beautiful and noble in the
pope’s witness.

His courageous perseverance

in carrying out his activities
as pope, despite his physical
afflictions, was a heart lifting
example for all of us.
This was, perhaps, doubly true for
all those people around the globe
who were themselves bearing
some cross or affliction.
CONT…
John Paul II bore his
infirmities as if they
were badges of honor
and opportunities for
imitating the courage
of the suffering Christ.
His humble, unpretentious
and unembarrassed
acceptance of suffering
was a dramatic form of
witness.
CONT…

The pope offered the

world a wonderful model
for responding with grace
to the test of suffering
and illness.
As Cardinal Ratzinger
observed, John Paul II
helps us realize that “even
age has a message, and
suffering a dignity and a
salvific force.”
 WRITINGS ABOUT THE MEANING OF
SUFFERING
Besides being a heroic
witness in the face of
suffering, Pope John Paul
II has often written
inspiringly on the subject.

In 1984, he published
the apostolic letter “On
the Christian Meaning
of Suffering.”
 ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF
SUFFERING
It is believed that it was
written out of his
response to the personal
suffering he endured
following the
assassination attempt on
his life by Mehmet Ali
Agca in 1981.
When confronted with suffering, most of us desperately seek answers
to the question Why? Why me? Why now? Why in this unexpected
form?
 CONT…

In the said Apostolic

letter, Pope John Paul
II states that Christ
does not really give
us an answer to such
questions, but rather
a LIVED EXAMPLE.
CONT…
When we approach
Christ with our questions
about the reason for
suffering we cannot help
noticing that the one to
whom we put the
questions “is himself “Christ does not explain in the abstract the
suffering and wishes to reasons for suffering,” he points out, “but
before all else he says: ‘Follow me!’ Come!
answer…from the Cross, Take part through your suffering in this work
of saving the world…. Gradually, as the
from the heart of his individual takes up his cross, spiritually

own suffering…. uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the

salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before
him” (26).
In 1993, Pope
John Paul II
instituted the
Annual World Day
of the Sick as a
way to bring
compassion and
greater attention
to the sufferings
of humanity, as
well as to the
mystery of
suffering itself.
The event is held on
February 11 each year on
the feast of Our Lady of
Lourdes.

The pope explains that

the Lourdes “shrine at the
foot of the Pyrenees has
become a temple of
human suffering”
 WORLD DAY OF THE SICK
In John Paul’s message for
that First Annual World
Day of the Sick, he offered
these words of comfort to
suffering people around
the world: “Your sufferings,
accepted and borne with
unshakeable faith, when
joined to those of Christ
take on extraordinary
value for the life of the
Church and the good of
humanity”
CONT…
We cannot really choose to
have no pain in our lives,
because pain in some form
is inescapable.

We have no choice about

pain or suffering. Sooner or
later everyone must face it.

Even Jesus and his mother

had to undergo pain.
 THE WORLD OF HUMAN SUFFERING

Suffering seems almost

inexpressible and at the
same time it is not
transferable.

Man suffers in different ways

not always considered by
medicine.

Suffering is still wider than

sickness, more complex.
KINDS OF SUFFERING

PHYSICAL
SUFFERING is
present when “the
body is hurting”

MORAL SUFFERING
is “pain of the soul”
 ATTEMPTED
ANSWERS
CONCERNING
SUFFERING
1. AN EVIL FORMER LIFE
Eastern religions
which advocate
reincarnation offer this
interesting answer,
namely, that all
suffering in one’s
present life is simply a
punishment for those
wrongs committed in a
former existence.
2. DUALISM
Like reincarnation, dualism is
a vital plank in the platform of
some Eastern religions.

In essence it says there are

but two gods (or principles)
governing the universe, one
good and the other bad.

They are equal, eternal, and

non-contradictory.
 3. FATALISM

The Islamic
community with its
hundreds of millions
accept the most
frightful suffering
with a shrug and the
comment, “It is the
will of Allah!”
4. HEDONISM
This is the modern playboy
philosophy to pain.

If it feels good, do it twice!

Eat, drink, and be merry, for
tomorrow we die! In other
words, the answer to pain is
to substitute it with pleasure.

Replace it with sex, money,

power, drugs, or whatever
else turns one on!
 5. EVOLUTION
This says simply that
suffering, like digestion, is
part of life.

We are assured that for some

unknown reason, those
accidental and uncaring
mechanical forces which
brought life out of nothing into
existence, also programmed
that life organisms would
suffer before they eventually
pass into eternal oblivion.
6. STOICISM

The stoic would

tell us suffering
can be overcome
merely by
ignoring it.
7. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

According to its
founder, Mary Baker
Eddy, the solution to
pain and suffering is to
utterly deny its
presence, for in reality
neither exist, except as
error in mortal minds.
8. A POWERLESS GOD
This proposal concludes
that the God of the
universe, while
possessing pity, does not
exercise complete power.

In other words, like some

earthly doctor, he stands
by helpless and frustrated
in the midst of human
woe.
9. A PITILESS GOD
Here we have just the
opposite of a powerless God.

This position holds that God

indeed possesses sufficient
power, but is short on
compassion.

Thus, all sorrow and suffering

can be directly traced back
to an indifferent deity.
10. PERSONAL SIN
This answer rests upon the
basic assumption that it is
never in the perfect will of God
for a Christian to suffer,
especially if the suffering lies in
the physical realm of sickness.

Therefore, the conclusion is

that all physical suffering in the
life of a believer must be
directly and only attributable to
some personal sin in his or her
life.
 THE MEANING OF SUFFERING
Pope John Paul II’s 1984
Apostolic Letter
“SALVIFICI DOLORIS” (On
the Christian Meaning of
Human Suffering) clearly
expounds the dignity and
the salvific power of
suffering.
The letter begins with quoting the Apostle Paul: “In my flesh I
complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his
body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24).
CONT…
The Apostle Paul was
able to rejoice in
suffering, because of his
discovery that to suffer is
to partake in the salvific
suffering of Christ for the
benefit of the church.

Suffering has meaning and dignity because of its

redemptive power and spiritual significance in the
context of the sacrifice and passion of Christ.
 WHAT IS THE PROPER RESPONSE TO
HUMAN SUFFERING?
Suffering evokes compassion; it
also evokes respect and in its
own way it intimidates. For in
1.heart-felt suffering is contained the
compassion greatness of a specific mystery.

2.the
imperative of
faith This special respect for every form of human
suffering must be set at the beginning of what will
be expressed here later by the deepest need of
the heart and also by the deep imperative of faith.
THE POPE’S ‘LETTER TO THE ELDERLY’
It was written in 1999.

In his comments to the

elderly, the pope reveals some
of his own sentiments about
the challenges associated
with aging, failing health and
the end of life on earth. He
encourages his elderly
brothers and sisters “to live
with serenity” the years that
the Lord has granted to them.
REFLECTIONS
Suffering is universal. All
creation suffers (Romans
8:22).

And in our interconnected

world, we know about
suffering all over the
world.

If we have compassion for

those we see, we suffer
with them.
REFLECTIONS
Christ’s redemption on the
cross does not mean we
will not suffer, but it
equips us to face
suffering.

In our suffering, believers

have hope because we
know that suffering is
brief and our blessings in
heaven are eternal (2
Corinthians 4:16-18).