Suffering

One of the many things I love about the Catholic Church is that it teaches us that there is value in suffering.    Contrary to the belief of many, it is not a punishment of our sins.   We can offer our sufferings up for the conversion of sinners and the souls in purgatory.  In more ways than one, suffering can be a gift.

Unfortunately many parents out there try to shield their children from all sorts of suffering and pain, which is understandable but which is also impossible.   It seems that the more you try to avoid it, the more it comes.   Those who learn to deal with it are often the most virtuous and  content among us. 

One of my facebook friends posted the following on her wall yesterday and I found it so appropriate for me and my family in this Lenten season.

"Even suffering is part of the truth of our life. Thus, trying to shield the youngest from every difficulty and experience of suffering, we risk creating, despite our good intentions, fragile persons of little generosity: The capacity to love, in fact, corresponds to the capacity to suffer, and to suffer together."

--- Pope Benedict ...XVI