Father Patrick Gearon wrote, “Christ chose suffering because it is the best path, and God rewards it because it is the best. It is par excellence the way by which man can come to God in heaven and put on the robe of joyful immortality.”
St. Aloysius Gonzaga said, “There is no more evident sign that anyone is a Saint and of the number of the elect, than to see him leading a good life and at the same time a prey to desolation, suffering, and trials.”
Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa (1904-1955) was a mystic and a victim soul. The victimhood of Alexandrina began on Holy Saturday 1918. Alexandrina and two other girls were at home when three men broke into the house to molest them. Alexandrina escaped by jumping from the window. She fell 12 feet on to hard ground and came back to the house with a piece of wood to defend the other girls. The men fled, but Alexandrina’s spine was irreparably injured. At the age of 20, she was completely paralyzed and became bedridden.
At first Alexandrina prayed for a cure, but later she realized that suffering was going to be her vocation. She offered up her suffering using the prayer taught by Our Lady in Fatima: “O Jesus, this is for the love of you, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Jesus explained to Alexandrina the importance of her suffering, “My daughter, suffering is the key to heaven. I have endured so much to open heaven to all mankind, but for many it was in vain. They say, ‘I want to enjoy life, I have come into the world only for enjoyment.’ They say, ‘hell does not exist.’ I have died for them, and they say they did not ask me to do so. They have formed heresies against me. In order to save them, I select certain souls and lay the cross on their shoulders. Happy the soul who understands the value of suffering! My cross is sweet if carried for love of me … I chose you from your mother’s womb. I watch over you in your great difficulties. It was I who chose them for you, that I might have a victim to offer me much reparation. Lean on my Sacred Heart and find therein strength to suffer everything.”
Father Adolphe Tanquerey 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 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 practise 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.
St. Teresa said, “Observe that we gain more in a single day by trials which come to us from God and our neighbour than we would in 10 years by penances and other exercises which we take up of ourselves.”
受苦是天國的鑰匙
Patrick Gearon神父寫道：『基督選擇了受苦因為它是最好的途徑，天主獎賞了它因為它是最好的。它是最超桌的途徑，人類經過它能夠抵達天堂到天主那裡去，並披上喜樂永生的長袍。』
聖類思說：『沒有比看到他過著美好的生活，同時成為荒涼、苦難和考驗的獵物更明顯的跡象，表明任何人是聖人和被選者。』
真福雅莉娜.瑪利亞.郭詩大(1904-1955)是一位受苦的靈魂。雅莉娜的苦痛始於1918年復活節前夕。當時，雅莉娜和另外兩名女子在一間屋子內，突然有三名男子闖入，意圖不軌，雅莉娜立刻跳窗逃走，從十二呎高空跌下，然後拿起一根木棒，跑回屋子，驅趕了那三名男子；但原來雅莉娜因墮下而傷及脊椎，六年後終於身體癱瘓，年僅二十歲，已要臥床渡過餘生。
開始時，雅莉娜祈求澈底痊癒，後來理解到這命運是天主的召叫，她遵從花地瑪聖母的吩咐，常唸著：「噢，耶穌，這是為了愛祢，為了贖罪，為了賠補冒犯瑪利亞無玷聖心的罪。」
耶穌向雅莉娜解釋受苦的重要：「我的女兒，受苦是升天堂的竅門。為世人打開天堂的門，我受了很多苦，但很多人仍然不濟。他們說：『我要享受人生，我生在世上只是為享樂。』他們說：『沒有地獄的存在。』我為他們而死，而他們說他們並沒有要求過我這樣做。他們興起異端來反對我。為救贖他們，我召選了一些靈魂，把十字架放在他們的肩上。明白苦痛價值的人是有福的！如果為愛我而背負，我的十字架是甘飴的…自你在母胎中，我已經召選了你。在你的大困苦中，我看顧了你。我為了你而選擇了那些困苦，使我能有一個犧牲者來給我獻上賠補。偎依在我聖心，並在那裡找到承受所有苦痛的力量！」
亞道夫.鄧奎利神父指出：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。
聖女德蘭說：『從天主和近人給我們一天的考驗中的得到的益處，往往比十年我們自己選擇作的補贖和其他的神業為多。』
