Outwitting Human Suffering

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 01, 2026

The reluctant prophet Jeremiah laments, “You duped me, Lord, and I allowed myself to be duped.” (Jeremiah 20:7) Jeremiah wasn’t happy that God commissioned him to indict the Israelites for their infidelity because he would endure their wrath. He failed to avoid the inevitable suffering that came with his vocation. Jesus helps us outwit the power of suffering by teaching us courage.

God created us for happiness in this life and in the life to come. We read in Wisdom, “God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. For he created all things that they might exist…” (Wisdom 1:13-15) Psalm 104 rejoices in God’s creation and in the “wine that cheers man’s heart.” In the Gospels, Jesus miraculously healed the sick and raised the dead.

Evil and suffering persist. So at Mass, we pray that God “delivers us from evil.” As we recite the Divine Office, we pray “Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake, watch over us as we sleep, that awake we keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace.” We pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”

We are often ambivalent about suffering and sometimes choose it. Athletes endure pain to build strength, stamina, and skill. Students postpone their college socializations to study for their exams. Soldiers take pride in training for battle. We admire firefighters who save lives. These words of Jesus are among the most appealing in the Gospel: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Every vocation brings the ambivalence of joy and suffering. After weddings, the married embark on an adventure with countless rewards and delights, but also disappointments and sorrows. (“First the engagement ring, then the wedding ring, finally the suffering!”)

Ditto priests. The words of Jeremiah resonate. As a man prepares for ordination, he could not anticipate his many failures, rejections, and disappointments. Had he envisioned them, his discouragement would be overwhelming. Yet as the years pass, a faithful priest would not exchange his vocation for another.

Yet the fear of suffering looms. Athletic coaches say, “No pain. No gain.” But well into middle age, we may prefer: “No pain. No pain!” We seek doctors to help us treat and avoid our infirmities. Pharmaceuticals treat chronic health conditions that otherwise would make life miserable. As we try to outwit pain and suffering, we have a gnawing sense that none of us are going to make it out of this life alive. We silently fear the uncertainties and trauma of end-of-life existence. There will be no escape. We need to muster the courage to gaze upon the open casket of a departed loved one. By God’s grace, courage brings us through the narrow gate of death.

Satan tempts us and the world with the proverbial pleasure principle: Avoid suffering at all costs. In the desert immediately preceding the launch of Christ’s public ministry, Satan tempts Jesus with the allures of the world. Jesus rejects him: “Begone Satan!”

Satan is persistent. God inspires Peter to witness to Christ’s messianic divinity. In response, Jesus promises to build His Church on Peter, the rock. But after Jesus reveals that He must go up to Jerusalem to suffer and die (cf. Matthew 16:21-27), Peter is horrified: “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Can we blame Peter for avoiding the Cross?

Jesus blames Satan. He directs His attention to His ancient foe and repeats His earlier command in the desert: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” Jesus will not allow Satan, through Peter’s temptation, to distract Him from His saving mission.

Jesus prepares us for our final confrontation with pain and sorrow: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Courage.

Every vocation advances the Kingdom of God in a myriad of ways. Our love for Jesus on the Cross gives us courage to suffer with Him. Saint Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” (Colossians 1:24)

Courage rooted in love motivates mothers and fathers to sacrifice for and protect their children. A firefighter risks his life to save others. A soldier is prepared to die in service to his country. A Christian martyr courageously suffers and loses his life in witness to Christ.

United to Christ’s Cross, even our suffering can become redemptive. As Fulton Sheen famously observed, we often waste our suffering. A suffering soul in a nursing home offers up his loneliness and pain in union with Jesus on the Cross for his salvation, the salvation of family and friends, and of the whole world. But those of us without chronic and debilitating pain may too glibly encourage the suffering to “Offer it up.”

Suffering with Christ, like Mary at the foot of the Cross, is the most perfect of human prayer. Our suffering, united to Jesus’ suffering and accompanied by our generous petitions for ourselves and others, can participate in Christ’s work of saving souls.

As we remain forever grateful for the comforts of life, self-denial, sacrifice, and courage help us to fulfill our vocations. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?”