Many are the theological issues that separate Catholics from Protestants. Purgatory, Mary, the Eucharist: issues like these cause distress to Protestants who believe that Catholics have added “traditions of men” to the “pure and simple” Gospel.
One issue on which we differ can instead become a bridge between us. Catholics and Protestants have widely divergent views of suffering. While many Protestants view suffering as a failure of faith, Catholics see suffering as an opportunity to grow closer to God and to help others. By helping a Protestant to understand there can be purpose in his suffering, you can reach out a hand of friendship that may open his eyes to the truth of the Catholic faith.
From The Prayer of Jabez to the television preacher promising that your problems will be solved by sending him a sizable donation, the dominant Protestant view is that suffering is something to move past quickly. Bind it in the Name of Jesus and be rid of it through the power of praise. But what happens to the sincere believer when unabated tragedy strikes? Does he give up on God? Tragically, a person who sees no value in suffering can grow angry with God and turn away.
It seems the Catholic Church alone grasps God's plan for a suffering humanity. By sending us a savior who suffered as a man, God has instilled purpose and meaning in the sufferings of this world.
Jeff Cavins and Matthew Pinto, the editors of Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer, understand this. “Where the suffering of humanity and the suffering of God intersect, we find profound meaning,” their introduction states. “When our lives are joined with Christ … every aspect of our lives change, even our suffering” (12). From Saint Paul to John Paul, the editors explain how Catholic tradition has consistently taught that our sufferings play a role in God's plan of redemption.
In Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer, ten brave and holy people have stepped forward to tell us their stories. Some began their suffering already in close communion with the Lord, others were brought closer because of their suffering. All bathe their struggles in prayer, and all teach us readers holiness in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Arguably, the hardest thing Jesus asks of us is to forgive. According to the Lord's Prayer our very salvation depends upon it, yet so many of us hold on to petty resentments. Forgiveness flows from the pages of Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer. What inspiration to see these contributors forgiving those who have caused them deep and abiding pain. Ultimately, sincere readers will willingly examine themselves to find their own recesses of resentment that need a thorough examination.
The courageous souls in the book have faced unrelenting physical pain, disability, addiction, loss of children born and unborn, persecution and more. Yet in each tragic situation, the writers drew closer to God. They learned to “offer it up,” to put their faith in the Lord, and to cede control of their situations to God. They were able to see past their pain to find the blessings God offered them.
Listen to the wisdom they share. “God has used suffering as an instrument in my conversion, primarily in [my son's] death but also in the death of my self-centered beliefs” (180). “There does come, I am bound to testify, a shift … in the grim precincts of pain when one makes the decision to offer it up” (97). “Without [real suffering] we can know God intellectually, but we do not really experience Him until He bears us up on the wings of angels and brings us through difficulties that are beyond our own strength” (46). “Suffering is indeed a great mystery, but the Lord has revealed to me its secret. It is all about love. If we look beyond the suffering of the cross, beyond the nails in His hands and feet, we will see love” (149). As testimonies like these demonstrate, this is truly a book full of hope.
A unique feature in Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer is a center photographic section. Its placement is perfect, for by the time you see the photos you're feeling intimately connected to the writers. You find it comforting to put faces together with the stories. These family photos quench a thirst you didn't know existed and bring an unexpected joy. It is reassuring to see smiles supporting the writers' contention that God has renewed their lives.
There are many reasons to be grateful to Jeff Cavins and Matthew Pinto for compiling this book. First, they have done a masterful job of finding these heroic Catholics who've faced tragedy and grown closer to God through it. Further, they've taken distressing subject matter and presented it without becoming maudlin. The pacing in this book is superb. One can only take so much tragedy at a time, so the ordering of these stories had to be carefully planned. Cavins and Pinto managed to get the tone just right. Finally, by pulling together these stories, they have given their readers a great gift, the sometimes forgotten treasure of the Catholic theology of suffering.
It is this redemptive quality of suffering that can open a Protestant's eyes to the beauty and treasures which exist in the Catholic faith. He has probably never before understood what St. Paul meant when he wrote, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions …” (Col. 1:24). Helping him to see that God allows our sufferings to be of help to others may be the perfect theological bridge. Once you've built it, he may be willing to cross and give credence to other beauties of the Catholic faith.
No matter how many tears you shed reading this book, you will feel privileged to have read it. The writers have opened their joy in the Lord to you, a joy forged from pain. Is there anyone in this world who is free from hurt and worry? Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer will show you how to hand that pain over to God, and allow Him to use it to redeem the world.
Toni Collins is a convert to the Catholic faith, and has worked with Catholic youth in music ministry for 19 years. She and her husband, Rick, are the parents of four daughters.
(A version of this review originally appeared in This Rock magazine, February 2003.)
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