A way to think about suffering.

It seems that we can see suffering in two ways. One is to see that suffering has a purpose, the other would be to see it as having no purpose. Calvary teaches us the difference. The thief on the left of Jesus suffered just as much as the thief on the right. The thief on the left started and ended his crucifixion with a curse. He never joined his suffering with Christ. The thief on the right saw meaning in his  pain. He saw that if pain had no reason, that you Christ would have never embraced it. If the cross had no purpose, you Christ, never would have climbed it. He submitted to the purpose for which Christ permitted pain to come to him. It was to lead him to you. Teach me submission to your holy will, give me strength to pick up my cross and follow you. For pain is not unbearable, but the failure to understand its meaning is unbearable. Do not take me off the cross, but take me up to you where I can accept life with its sorrows and joys willingly. It is not for me to question your divine plan, but to align my will with yours. As St. Augustine says, 'The possesion of you is my end in life. Thou has made us for thyself, O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.'
Help me to see your kind hand on me in all that happens to me. I believe in your love for every being that you have created. Our lives are extreme gifts to us. We are created by love to learn to love in the way that Christ's loves the church The passion on the cross is suffering and the greatest love ever. This is a paradox that we Christians live with. Lord, I give you my suffering in living obedience. I put all my liberty into your divine freedom with no thought of where you lead me.
My God I believe in you. I adore you. Strengthen my faith All my hopes are in you: secure them.