Get the Workbook | Facilitator Guide | Imagine a world in which being selfish, arrogant, or hurtful towards others was not a possibility. Everyone was forced to be perfectly loving all the time. It might seem like this situation would be great, but would it, really? If someone is not free to make any other choice, have they really chosen love? For love to really be love, it must be freely chosen. A person who can love must therefore be free to choose against it. Those choices inevitably result in suffering. Thankfully, we know as Christians that God has an infinite ability to transform bad into good. We can know that He provides us many paths to transform the suffering we experience into even greater joys, if we trust in Him and allow Him to guide us. We will explore what that means in this chapter.
In this episode you will learn that ...
■ The reasons why God allows suffering to occur in the world are linked to the free giving and receiving of love, and, with it, the advancement of our salvation.
■ Since agapē requires a free choice, the possibility of suffering is the price of the possibility of love.
■ God the Father empathizes with our pain, involves Himself in our lives (if we allow Him to), and guides us to His Kingdom of unconditional love.
■ God allows suffering to occur in the world, but His intention is to transform it into love.
■ Challenges and suffering are a call to develop our natural virtues: they often provide the impetus to grow in endurance, courage, fortitude, prudence, rationality, and temperance.
■ The poor, sick, and grieving may well have more strain, stress, and pain in this life, but if they are open to faith and love, they will likely have an easier and more efficacious path to salvation.
■ Beginning with His Eucharistic words and actions and concluding with His self-sacrificial Death on the Cross, Jesus revealed the highest forms of sacrificial love.
About Fr Spitzer: Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on May 16, 1952, Fr. Spitzer is a Catholic priest in the Jesuit order and is currently the President of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith (magiscenter.com). The Magis Center produces documentaries, books, high school programs, college courses, adult-education programs, and social media materials on the close connection among science, reason, and faith. Fr. Spitzer is also the President, Master of Ceremonies, and speaker at the Napa Institute (napa-institute.org).