NTIMATE RELATION EXISTS BETWEEN THE CROSS OF CHRIST AND PAIN

VATICAN CITY, JAN 24, 1999 (VIS) - John Paul II this afternoon visited the sick at the regional Dr. Adolfo Lopez Mateos Hospital in Mexico City. Having greeted the sick people individually, he gave a message to Bishop Jose Lizares Estrada, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Healthcare Workers, in which he reflects on the value of pain in the context of the redeeming work of Christ.

"People," writes the Pope in the message read to the sick, "are called to joy and happiness, but daily experience many forms of pain, and illness is the most frequent and most common expression of human suffering. In the face of this situation, one spontaneously asks: "Why do we suffer? For what reason do we suffer? Does it mean anything that people suffer? Can the experience of physical or moral pain be a positive one?"

"For Christians, these are not questions which have no answer. Pain is a mystery. ... It is part of the mystery of the human person, which only becomes clear in Jesus Christ. ... The person finds the answer in so far as they partake in the sufferings of Christ."

This partaking in the life of Christ "carries with it the sharing in his pain." There is an "intimate relationship between the Cross of Jesus - the symbol of supreme pain and the price of our true freedom - and our pain, suffering, affliction, difficulties and torment which can weigh down our souls or take root in our bodies."

The Holy Father states that "we are never alone faced with the mystery of suffering. We live this with Christ, who gives meaning to our whole lives: in moments of joy and peace, as well as in moments of affliction and difficulty. With Christ all has meaning, including suffering and death; without Him, nothing is fully explained, even legitimate pleasures which God has brought together with various times in human life."

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