Why Must I Suffer?

Book excerpt: Suffering! Is anything more commonly man’s lot? Is anything harder to bear? Is there not, even for the most perfect men, one form or another in the range of suffering which would be found a trial? Who then among us but needs consolation? Who but needs at least to be forearmed? In the following fifteen reasons why God permits suffering, we trust the earnest reader will find light and consolation, which under God’s grace will disarm suffering of some of its bitterness, and make a blessing of what is often enough a stumbling block. First Reason: Sharing the Consequences of Original Sin Second Reason: Expiation of Public and National Sins Third Reason: Natural Results of Indiscretions Fourth Reason: Natural Results of Sins Against the Ten Commandments Fifth Reason: Temporal Punishment of Your Sins Sixth Reason: A Substitute for Purgatory Seventh Reason: The Body’s Share in Making Atonement Eighth Reason: Your Need of Conversion Ninth Reason: Your Need of Perfect Conversion Tenth Reason: Forestalling the Danger of Eternal Perdition Eleventh Reason: Making Atonement for the Sins of Others Twelfth Reason: Promoting the Welfare of the Church Thirteenth Reason: Procuring the Conversion of Sinners Fourteenth Reason: Acquiring Conformity with Jesus Christ Fifteenth Reason: Predestination to an Exalted Degree of Glory in Heaven