![Pope Benedict XVI greets Chiara Corbella with her family in Vatican Square after the General Audience. Pope Benedict XVI greets Chiara Corbella with her family in Vatican Square after the General Audience.](https://publisher-ncreg.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pb-ncregister/swp/hv9hms/media/20240620220636_e46c1a06f96c97d8c9293fed721ed62f20a3a82e1a4719ac99cdcc5e742f063d.jpg)
‘Everything Is a Gift’: Lessons from Chiara Corbella on Suffering
‘Humanly we can do nothing except to pray and to ask God for the strength to live this trial in sanctity.’
‘Humanly we can do nothing except to pray and to ask God for the strength to live this trial in sanctity.’
‘You proclaim by your patience, your endurance and your joy the mystery of Christ’s redeeming power. You will find the crucified Lord in the midst of your sickness and suffering.’ —Pope St. John Paul II
A bout of illness can be a good time for Scriptural reading, mental prayer, examination of conscience, spiritual reading and praying a Rosary.
Bishop O’Connell, 68, was in Italy to lead a pilgrimage of 20 priests and two members of the diocese’s staff to holy sites in Rome and Assisi.
In the Cross of Christ is our salvation and the invitation to join our suffering to his
SCRIPTURES & ART: Our suffering is tailor-made for our capacities, and by it we grow in holiness when we join it to the suffering and cross of Christ.
‘By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion.’ (CCC 1505)
Jesus did not promise comfort in this life. He promised trials and persecutions, and he gave us an example of how to endure, embrace and transform them.
If there is one experience that unites us as a human family, it is suffering.
‘By dying on the cross, he surrendered himself into the hands of the Father, taking upon himself and in himself, with self-sacrificing love, the physical, moral and spiritual wounds of all humanity.’
Subscriber Service CenterAlready a subscriber? Renew or manage your subscription here.
Subscribe and Save HALF OFF!Start your Register subscription today.
Subscribe NowGive a Gift SubscriptionBless friends, family or clergy with a gift of the Register.
Order NowOrder Bulk SubscriptionsGet a discount on 6 or more copies sent to your parish, organization or school.
Order NowSign-up for E-NewsletterGet Register Updates sent daily or weeklyto your inbox.
Sign Up