God the Father told St. Catherine of Siena: “Patience cannot be proved in any other way than by suffering, and patience is united with love.”

God revealed to Saint Catherine the mystery of suffering saying, “Do you not know, dear daughter, that all the sufferings, which the soul endures, or can endure, in this life, are insufficient to punish one smallest fault, because the offence, being done to me, who am the Infinite Good, calls for an infinite satisfaction?”

“However, I wish that you should know, that not all the pains that are given to men in this life are given as punishments, but as corrections, in order to chastise a son when he offends; though it is true that both the guilt and the penalty can be expiated by the desire of the soul, that is, by true contrition, not through the finite pain endured, but through the infinite desire; because God, who is infinite, wishes for infinite love and infinite grief.”          

With the desire to love God and to grief for sin, we can offer to God our sufferings for the conversion of sinners. Compelled by the prayers of his servants, God will help sinners to repent. He said, “The fruit which I destine for them [sinners], constrained by the prayers of my servants, is that I give them light, and that I wake up in them the hound of conscience, and make them smell the odour of virtue, and take delight in the conversation of my servants.” 

A spiritual writer taught that in times of trial, we can ease our sufferings by negative and positive remedies.

Negatively, we should avoid aggravating sufferings by thinking too much about past wounds, and about possible sufferings in the future. Possible future sufferings may never come to pass; if they do come, then will be the time to bear them with the help of grace which will be given us for that purpose. “Just now, we have not such grace, and left to our own forces, we shall surely succumb under the weight of a self-imposed burden.”

Positively, we should reflect on the value of suffering. Suffering is a source of light, power, and merit. As a source of light, it reminds us of the shortness of life and the emptiness of worldly things. As a source of power, it produces reaction in us that helps to reinforce courage in the practice of virtues.

Suffering becomes a source of merit when it is borne in union with Christ’s sufferings. It is an instrument to apply the saving grace of Christ to souls. 

Blessed Marie Gabriella offered her suffering and life for the unity of Christians. Born in 1914, Marie Gabriella was a girl of strong will. She was obstinate and rebellious, but with a strong sense of duty and loyalty. She obeyed grumblingly, but she was docile. She would say, “no,” and then go at once to her appointed task.

The sorrows caused by the death of her closest sister brought about a profound change in her life. At the age of 18, people noticed she became gentler. The spirit of prayer and of charity grew in her. At 21, she joined a Trappist monastery. When she became a professed religious, her attitude to God was, “now do what You will.”

In January 1938, shortly before the Octave of Christian Unity, the abbess of the monastery explained to the community the request for prayer and offering for the great cause of Christian unity. Sister Marie Gabriella felt compelled to offer her young life for this cause.

After consultations with superiors, she made an act of self-offering to God. God accepted her offering. Up until this time she was in good health, but in a few months she had tuberculosis. Sister Marie Gabriella prayed and suffered for the cause of Christian unity until her death on Good Shepherd Sunday, April 23, 1939.


聖人甘為別人受苦

天主告訴聖嘉琳：「含忍只能藉所承受的苦痛去証明，而含忍是與愛情相聯合。」

天主向聖嘉琳顯示痛苦的奧秘，說：「我親愛的女兒，妳可知道現世靈魂所受的、能受的苦痛，其實不足以彌補一個最微少的過犯，皆因罪是冒犯我—–無限美善，所需要的，是無限賠補。」

「不過，我想妳知道，並非全部現世的痛苦是為懲罰，也是為了改正，為打責做錯了事的兒子。無疑，靈魂的渴望可以補償罪愆和罪罰，是藉真心的痛悔和無限的渴望而不是藉有限的痛苦；因為無限的天主，願意無限的愛和後悔。」

我們可懷著愛慕天主及悔罪的渴望，為罪人的悔改而奉獻自己的苦痛。因忠僕們的懇切祈禱，天主會幫助罪人改過。天主對聖女說：「藉我子民的轉禱，我會用我的真光光照那些罪人，敲響他們的良知，讓他們嗅到德行的芬芳，使他們喜愛與我的忠僕們談話。」

一位神修家指出：身處痛苦考驗的時刻，我們可循積極和消極兩方面處理，以舒緩苦果。

在消極方面，我們要避免加重自己的痛苦。我們不必專注舊患新傷，徒添煩惱；因為舊患已過，棄作陳蹟，新傷亦未必一如所料發生，奈何庸人自擾？即使如料壓頂，要依賴天主那時要賜予的聖寵，定能導出困局。現在困難未到，我們仍未有聖寵，只靠自己的能力，我們只會屈服於恐懼之下。

在積極方面，我們應該明白痛苦的價值。須知道，痛苦是光照、力量和功德的泉源。痛苦光照我們，領悟到人性的軟弱，生命的短暫，世事的虛幻。痛苦讓我們從磨練中作出反應，激發勇力，遜守諸德。當我們以愛德把痛苦與基督的苦難聖死結合，便能使之成為分施聖寵與人靈的工具。

福女瑪利亞.嘉俾娜為基督徒合一而奉上痛苦與生命。她生於一九一四年，生性頑强、固執、反叛，但有強烈的責任感與忠誠。她會一便發牢騷，一便順命。她雖口裏說「不」，卻會立即順命行動。

最親愛的姊妹離世，瑪利亞.嘉俾娜傷痛的心情，深深地改變了她的一生。十八歲時，人們注意到她變得溫良，祈禱生活和愛心增長。年二十一，進入熙篤隱修會；作了發愿的修女後，她請求天主在她身上完成祂的旨意。

一九三八年一月，基督徒合一週前，聽得長上呼籲為合一祈禱、奉獻; 嘉俾娜修女感到天主願意她把自己年輕的生命奉獻作為合一的犧牲。

嘉俾娜修女在徵得修院長上同意後，便鄭重地把生命作犧性奉獻給主。天主接納了她的奉獻： 不消數月, 康健的她，突罹肺病。嘉俾娜一直為合一祈禱和受苦, 直至一九三九年四月二十三日病逝為止。當日是「善牧主日」。