Hi Minister Rich,

First, thank-you for your ministry!

With the rise of [secular/liberal] professors on the campus these days, you have a very important calling in getting college students through college spiritually alive. Thanks!

You said:
They are questions which I, as a campus minister, am frequently asked regarding suffering, guilt, and the blood of Jesus.

Many today are justly confused about suffering and why suffering happens in the world.

• Why does a good God allow even very [good/holy] people to suffer greatly and even die?

The Catechism tells us, under the heading: Illness in human life

1500 Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death.

1501 Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him.

What I bolded above is important to remember.

That said, there is another more important reason why God allows good people to suffer:

To bring a greater good out of them.

Sure, our loving Heavenly Father is happy with college students who are doing the best they can to study hard and bring their specific vocational calling to its best, but sometimes God sees something better in us, than what we see in ourselves.

You said:

• Why do you Catholics talk about suffering as a grace, if Christ suffered once for all?

Because the Bible tells us Christ is the head and the Church is the body.

22 And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Ephesians 1:22-23

Here are some additional notes from my computer bible:

His body: the Church (Ephesians 1:22); cf. the note on Colossians 1:18. Only in Ephesians and Colossians is Christ the head of the body, in contrast to the view in
1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12:4–8 where Christ is equated with the entire body or community.

Fullness: see the note on Colossians 1:19. Some take the one who fills as God, others as Christ (cf. Ephesians 4:10). If in Christ dwells the fullness of the deity bodily (Colossians 2:9), then, as God fills Christ, Christ in turn fills the Church and the believer (Ephesians 3:19; 5:18).

Suffering isn't an individual affair from the Church's point of view. Suffering is a community affair. We are the Body of Christ really!! We are one Church of sinners and saints all striving for holiness.

At times we live much holier, virtuous lives; at other times we struggle with sin a lot.

Yes, I'm speaking for myself. :)

It's a grace from the Church's point of view because when we are involved in virtuous good works and affairs, if we offer them all to God, we can assist and help others in the body of Christ who are struggling more on the sin side of things, and visa-versa. We are family!

Because we are part of the body of Christ and one with Our Lord, we not only share in the joys of his public ministry while He was on earth, but also in His sufferings.

The key: Willingly uniting our suffering to the Body and blood of Christ Our Lord.

Now some may say:

The Bible says, Christ suffered once and for all and it's finished.
They will say, If it's finished, it's finished!

The problem is you can't take a quote out of context. St. Paul states in Colossians 1:24:

Paul's labors in the service of the gentiles

24 It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church, 25 of which I was made a servant with the responsibility towards you that God gave to me, that of completing God's message, 26 the message which was a mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his holy people.

Colossians 1:24-26

St. Paul sounds pretty Catholic to me :)

You said:

• The Bible says I do not have any guilt in Christ Jesus, so why should I ever feel guilty or cultivate a healthy sense of guilt.

One of my colleagues will have to help me on this one.

You said:

• Why should a Catholic priest make me do a penance for my sins when I can never atone for them?

Good point. You can try all you want and you will never be able to atone for your sins to any man.

What's missing: Catholic priests are more then just men. The Church chooses (through the
sacrament of Holy Orders) men to act in the person of Christ to administer the sacraments of the Church that our Lord instituted before ascending into Heaven. Men become priests through the sacrament of Holy Orders. Jesus uses the body and mind of the [priest/man] to bring His sanctifying grace down into the souls of men. And this was by His command:

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 (Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.

John 20:19-23

The Catechism tells us:

CCC 1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains.

While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man." (Ephesians 4:22,24)

CCC 1472 [... This punishment] must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.

For the same reason, the Church requires the faithful to do a very small penance. If the penitent would not do a penance, one can ask:

• Was he really sorry for his sins?
• See what I mean?

You also may be interested in a related question by my brother Mark asked a few years ago:

• So why would I ask God to forgive, as I forgive, when the best I can do is forgive imperfectly?

You said:
All I have to do is claim the blood of Jesus and I am washed clean from my sins.

• Where does it say that in the Bible?
• What book, chapter, and verse?

If you or your students on campus are interested, check out my list of Biblical verses for Catholic teachings at:

https://www.AskACatholic.com/ScripturePassages

I used to run a free program that sent Catechisms to seeking Protestants and non-Christians but I no longer have the financial or operational means to do this anymore. Nevertheless, if you wish to go deeper, consider buying a cheap copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn everything we believe as Catholics.

— If you, or any visitor, have been helped by our work at AskACatholic.com, consider financially supporting us today.
— If you can't right now, click on a few ads on our website. Every ad click brings in a bit more revenue that supports our work. Every click helps.

Hope this helps,

Mike

Hi Rich,

First of all there are two kinds of guilt.

1. One is the juridical guilt that comes with punishment. You are found guilty and thus you are sentenced for the crime. This applies to those who die outside of grace.
   
   
2. Then there is guilt that we feel when we have sinned. A better word is conviction.
   We know we've done wrong and the Holy Spirit leads us to repent.

The question of penance gets to be confusing to the Evangelical mind set because it tends to be even more juridical than the Catholic mind set.

I believe the way we explain the theology behind penance or punishment for sin for those who repent is a very misunderstood paradigm, but what it amounts to is the following:

Sin separates us from God, and it also inflicts damage to our soul.

For example, when we look at pornography, we not only sin at that time, but we feed the desire to sin further. When we repent, two things happen. We are forgiven and we are restored.

Forgiveness is immediate but restoration can be a process, so penance is intended to heal the self-inflicted wound on our soul.

Remember Scripture says:

"He who began a good work in me, shall be faith to complete it."

Philippians 1:6

That's a process we yield to.

I prefer to use a less juridical model to explain penance. I call it the medicinal model.

In this model, if I were to put my fist through your window, I have sinned against you. After realizing what I did was wrong, I would ask for your forgiveness and you would forgive me.

Then I tell you I can't pay for the window. Nevertheless, you say my debt is paid in full.

Though the transgression is now paid for, we still have a problem:

My hand is bleeding, and I need to go to the emergency room.

That said, the first thing you would do is disinfect my hand and take me to hospital. When you disinfect my hand it hurts — it seems like punishment, but it's really healing pain. You take me to the doctor (which you pay for by the way), and he works on my hand. This hurts some more.

He gives me pills to take. All throughout the healing process I feel pain and you are there for me; you console me.

That's what Christ does for us when we repent. He picks up the tab for everything, except the healing process and everything involved in the healing process, which hurts.

The penance the medicine; it helps to make sure the wound doesn't get worse, and helps it to heal.

• Does this help?

John DiMascio

Hi Rich,

Just to add one small point to Mike and John's great responses:

Christ's suffering once for all doesn't mean no one else ever has to suffer. It means Christ doesn't have to suffer more than once. Christ doesn't have to be sacrificed over and over as was done in the Old Testament sacrifices.

His sacrifice was the submission of human will to the divine will, expressed in the obedience of His whole life and culminating in The offering of His life on the Cross. His Act of Perfect Obedience unto death was what saved us, repairing the breach brought about by the disobedience of Adam. No one else had ever been able to return to union with God — no one could even follow the Law, much less be united to God completely.

We join His offering by joining ourselves to His will, which is His Perfect Sacrifice. One way we join ourselves to His will is by accepting trials and sufferings as He did. He has forever changed the meaning of suffering — from a meaningless threat to an existence and participation in His sacrifice of the heart. He also changed the meaning of death, from a radical separation from God to the doorway by which we go to God.

In a sense, our sacrifices are only sacrifices when joined to His will, because only in Him are we united to God, because He is the God-Man who shares His Resurrection Life with us through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, even looking at all the sufferings offered as sacrifice, there is only one sacrifice — one obedient perfect will.

Mary Ann

Sorry, got so wrapped up in answering that I forgot to add:

Congratulations!!

Mary Ann

Hi Rich,

Another answer is that we may very well remove ourselves from Christ Jesus.

If a car dealer is trying to sell you a Volvo or Hummer, and he says,

"Nothing will happen to those who are in this car."

he is not precluding that you might do something stupid like jumping out of it or something like that, nor does he mean that if you enter the car once, never again will anything happen to you anywhere. Thus,

"There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"

does not mean that a one-time event will guarantee you a spot in Heaven no matter what you subsequently do. St. Paul compares the Christian life to a race in 1 Corinthians 9:24, and in fact says he's not even sure he is saved. (1 Corinthians 4:1)

Our salvation is contingent on us persevering. Check out:

• 2 Timothy 2:13
• Colossians 1:22
• 1 Timothy 4:15f
• Hebrews 6:9
• Hebrews 3:12
• Hebrews 10:38
• James 1:12
• 1 John 2:24
• John 15:5
• Matthew 10:22
• 2 Peter 2:20f, and
• many others.

Hope this helps!

Eric

Rich,

I just wanted to add one more point.

Every family killed the Passover lamb and shed its blood, but only the families who took the blood and put it on their houses were saved.

To be in Christ, we have to avail ourselves of His blood. We have to put on Christ, in Baptism, and continue to live in Him. We have to put His blood on us, so to speak.

Claiming it is more than just saying it, or reminding ourselves of it. We don't control God.
In obedience, we put it on our houses. We submit to Baptism and to a life of Baptism, dying and rising daily.

Mary Ann