Children starve, mothers miscarry, cancer patients struggle, the elderly agonize.  Wherever we look, we see suffering.  It seems that no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, suffering always finds us.  Our increasingly materialistic society would have us believe that suffering is a bad thing, a tragic inconvenience obstructing the road to happiness.  The Catholic Church teaches something different.

Suffering is extremely valuable and meritorious in the economy of salvation.  The Apostleship of Prayer has always implicitly promoted this.  The spirituality of offering oneself is completely in line with the Catholic truth of suffering. 

That connection is now explicit.

This week, the rapidly expanding Apostleship of Prayer unveiled a new leaflet.  Entitled “The True Value of Suffering,” the leaflet centers on the virtues of human suffering.  It is intended to better educate Catholics on the Church’s view of suffering, as well as clarify the teaching for Protestant brothers and sisters.

Father James Kubicki, S.J., the national director of the Apostleship of Prayer, hopes the new leaflet will rekindle an all-but-forgotten practice.

“When I was growing up I was taught to "offer it up" when something painful came my way,” he said.  “Some people think this is old fashioned, but Pope Benedict wrote about this practice in his new encyclical on hope.  We're trying to help people see that "offering up" our pains is not old fashioned but can give meaning to them.”

Father Kubicki also sees the leaflet as a means to emulate one of the great Catholic giants of the modern age.

“Pope John Paul II endured terrible suffering toward the end of his life.  You just know that he took that pain and those sufferings and prayed with them, offering them up for the good of the Church and the world.  He was an example for me and for all of us.”

The new leaflet will be sent out to all Apostleship of Prayer members in the annual spring mailing.  However, those who specialize in pastoral care are encouraged to order the leaflet in large quantities.  It is ideal for deacons and sisters who minister to the ill and disabled.