In 1984 Pope St. John Paul II wrote an apostolic letter, Salvifici Doloris on the Salvific meaning of suffering. Through his own experience and in the light of faith John Paul II understands that suffering is a providential means to discover who we are. When we go through suffering, we look for an answer to our suffering, and we ultimately ask God for its meaning. John Paul II shows that it is not wrong to question God about suffering. God already knows that we have this question, and he is waiting for us to ask it so that he can give an answer.
The Bible expresses this truth through the figure of Job. This just man undergoes terrible sufferings: loses all his possessions, his children, and he is struck with a severe illness. However, this suffering leads Job to have a personal encounter with God, and through this encounter to discover the deeper meaning of his life.
Thus, suffering is a mystery allowed by God to draw us closer to himself. Yet, the ultimate meaning of suffering is only given in Jesus Christ. John Paul II teaches that suffering begins to make sense if we understand it through the love which God has for every person in Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). God, seeing the need that we have of having an answer to suffering sent his Son into the world to provide the answer. This was the Father’s plan, and Jesus did not deny his Father because he loved his Father to the point of giving his own life to fulfill his Father’s will.
John Paul II shows us that the love of God is revealed in Jesus Christ’s suffering: “Human suffering… has entered into a completely new dimension and a new order: it has been linked to love” (SD, 18). John Paul II teaches us that love is always creative and is able to draw good even out of the worst sufferings. If Christ has undergone suffering for our sake, it in turn opens the paths of our own sufferings to be fruitful. Therefore, let us begin to discover in our sufferings a way to love God and love our neighbor by sharing in the sufferings of Christ and finding meaning in them.