The Sanctity of Suffering
“Sadness is looking at oneself, happiness is looking at God. Conversion is nothing but a movement of the eyes.”
– St. Carlo Acutis
This past Sunday marked the first feast day for the recently canonized St. Carlo Acutis, the first millennial Saint of the Catholic Church. St. Carlo was known in his life to be particularly devoted to evangelization and reverence for the Holy Eucharist. Using his programming skills, he developed, launched, and maintained a website to document eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions. It was through these means, the skills bestowed upon him by God, that Carlo found a way to spread the joy of Christ to the entire world.
But St. Carlo’s life was cut short by tragedy. At the age of 15, just days after the final unveiling of his website on eucharistic miracles, he succumbed to a severe form of leukaemia. The disease progressed rapidly, and he died only twelve days after the earliest presentation of symptoms. When faced with such tragedy, containing profound physical and emotional agony, it can be easy to shake our fist at God, asking him, ‘Why me?’, seeing it as pointless or a form of punishment. We tend to view it as meaningless. We try to avoid suffering and remedy ourselves from our experience of it as soon as we can. This response is deeply human and understandable to anyone who has faced life's tribulations. That does not mean, however, that this is the correct response to such a situation, for it can distract from the sanctification that suffering can offer to Christ’s faithful.
The response of St. Carlo to the rapid deterioration of his health and the suffering he endured leading up to his death radically differed from one of bitterness and resentment. Rather than viewing his suffering in this misguided way, he allowed it to sanctify him, uniting him closer to Christ through the suffering he bore. As he lay dying in a hospital bed, he said, “I offer to the Lord the sufferings that I will have to undergo for the Pope and for the Church.” This response is unnatural, especially for a 15-year-old, about to die, who mere weeks ago was living life to the fullest. This does not mean that suffering is to be viewed fatalistically, but rather, as Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8:17).
Human suffering came into the world through the sin of Adam. Before Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, the suffering we endured in this world was a reminder of our Original Sin and our separation from God’s initial, perfect creation in the Garden. However, following the glorious Paschal Mystery of our Lord, human suffering has become a means by which we can share in the suffering of Christ. No longer is suffering a curse to be endured for our sin against God, but a way to commune with Christ, whose grace allows suffering to bear out fruit in our lives. That is not to say that suffering is in and of itself a good; rather, through the love of Christ, God can transform the pain of this world into a closer relationship with Him.
The response of St. Carlo Acutis to his tragic death at only 15 years old is the paragon of this approach to suffering. He did not lament the pain he underwent but instead allowed it to push him closer to Christ and offered it up for the benefit of the Church. When we face suffering in our lives, we must strive to view it as an opportunity to grow closer to God. That doesn’t mean we must enjoy the experience. It also doesn’t mean that we are wrong for feeling angry or resentful about our suffering; this is a very natural reaction. But when we have that reaction, we are to overcome it, as St. Carlo did, by finding a way to allow it to transform us towards a closer relationship with God.
St. Carlo Acutis, Ora Pro Nobis
The Grace and Peace of the Lord be with you always.