Pain

    a) Everyone has to suffer. It is part of the limited human condition. Resignation, therefore, and do not aggravate the sorrow by dwelling on its cause.     b) Pain has positive aspects.

(they do not suppress suffering, but make it more bearable by giving it greater meaning):

• Pain frees man from many whims he can no longer afford.
• Suffering provides realism, protecting against foolishness and superficiality: this life is not a children's game.
• Pain lifts the gaze from this earth and helps seek true happiness in eternal life.
• Suffering reminds us of our limitation, fostering humility: we are not gods but creatures.
• The will is strengthened in difficulties. Man acquires firmness and maturity.

- Let us imagine two young people. One, rich, has passed through life wrapped in cotton wool. A daddy's boy, he has had everything without making an effort. He has barely suffered in life. How do we picture him?: capricious, lazy, only thinking of having fun. Hee-hee. Ha-ha.     Now let us think of another young person who has had to suffer in life. For example, someone who, while studying, had to work to help his widowed mother. How do we picture his character? He has probably acquired a sturdy maturity and is firm, tenacious, accustomed to responsibility.     Things will not always be this way, but the imagination helps us see that suffering does man some good in a certain way.

(they give suffering a higher and more lasting meaning):

• Pain fosters prayer, since one normally turns more to God in difficult moments.
• Suffering helps purify the soul since it serves as penance for our sins. It reduces time in purgatory.
• Pain unites us with Christ, who died on the cross. As the cross was central to the Lord's life, suffering is also essential for whoever wishes to imitate him. ("He who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.")
• Suffering shows our love of God, since it helps to lighten the weight of the Cross.
• Pain is indispensable for apostolic effectiveness, as happened with Jesus Christ: "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it bears no fruit."