We Suffer

Time spent beside those who are put to the test may bear fruits of grace (Pope Benedict XVI, World Day of the Sick, 2010).

The world as we experience it often seems very different from the one promised us by faith. Evil, injustice, suffering and death seem to contradict the Good News. They can shake our faith and become a temptation against it. Witnesses to hope abound in the scriptures. Abraham, the Virgin Mary, the apostles: all believed in the face of desperate circumstances.

St. Paul invites us "to lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Heb. 12:1-2).

In Christ's afflictions - in weakness - His power is made perfect (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1508). By participating in the Passion of Christ, our suffering (a consequence of original sin) takes on new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus (1521). St. Joseph Parish extends compassionate support and Christian hope.