Austin Ruse - Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ

T HE mystery of suffering is one of the greatest questions of human life in our world. In our completely secularized age which has lost its awareness of the goodness and dignity of every human life, created in the image of God, the temptation is great to regard as meaningless the lives of those whose existence is marked by chronic and incurable sufferings. At the same time, the suffering of the innocent is for many people a source of difficulty and objection to the Christian faith.

Pope St. John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Salvifici doloris, On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, issued on February 11, 1984, reflected on how the Gospel of Jesus Christ illuminates the mystery of suffering. Reflecting on St. Pauls teaching on the Cross, St. John Paul II wrote: The Cross of Christ throws salvific light, in a most penetrating way, on mans life and in particular on his suffering. For through faith the Cross reaches man together with the Resurrection: the mystery of the Passion is contained in the Paschal Mystery.

St. John Paul II explained how the Christians suffering is transformed by the knowledge that human suffering can share in the work of Christs Redemption:

Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person completes what is lacking in Christs afflictions; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service. In the Body of Christ, which is ceaselessly born of the Cross of the Redeemer, it is precisely suffering permeated by the spirit of Christs sacrifice that is the irreplaceable mediator and author of the good things which are indispensable for the worlds salvation. It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls.

Pope St. John Paul IIs teaching on the Christian meaning of suffering was expressed not only in his papal Magisterium, but also in the example of his life. Throughout the final years of his pontificate, the saintly pontiff continued to fulfill a demanding schedule of appointments and events, even as his physical suffering and weakness were ever more vividly apparent. Despite the suggestions of some that someone in such a debilitating condition could not serve as pastor of the universal Church, Pope St. John Paul II persevered in his exercise of the Petrine ministry, and gave an example to the world of the redemptive good of suffering embraced in union with the Cross of Christ.

The truth of redemptive suffering, united to the Cross of Christ, is seen in a most dramatic way in the lives of those who, at a very young age, are faced with terrible diseases. The present work narrates the lives of three children who, in recent times, bore witness with their lives to the Christian meaning of human suffering. In contemplating the joyful spirit with which these children embraced the chronic sufferings that marked their short lives, we see how Christ, ever alive for us in the Church, poured into the hearts of these children the love of His glorious pierced Heart, enabling them to bear their sufferings with supernatural courage and charity.

In seeing the great courage and love displayed by these children in their acceptance of suffering, we see how God makes use of those whom the world considers weakest and most insignificant in order to bring about the marvels of His grace. We are thus reminded of the important truth taught by St. Thrse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, in her teaching on the Little Way of spiritual childhood:

You know that I have always wanted to be a Saint; but compared with real Saints, I know perfectly well that I am no more like them than a grain of sand trodden beneath the feet of passers-by is like a mountain with its summit lost in the clouds. I searched the Scriptures for some hint of my desired elevator, until I came upon these words from the lips of Eternal Wisdom: Whosoever is a little one, let him come to Me (Prv 9:4). Your arms, My Jesus, are the elevator which will take me up to Heaven. There is no need for me to grow up; on the contrary, I must stay little, and become more and more so.

The children whose lives are recounted in this volume, precisely in their littleness, were lifted up by Christ to become examples of holiness and instruments of Gods grace for those who knew them.

Reflecting on the goodness of redemptive suffering in the lives of the littlest members of Christs Mystical Body, we recognize ever more clearly the truth about the goodness and dignity of every human life, created in the image of God. At the same time, the example of these children, and of all the little souls who, through the Christian centuries, have suffered in union with Christ, demonstrates the profound error and evil of the culture of death which views as meaningless the lives of children who suffer from debilitating illnesses, and which seeks to eliminate them through abortion and euthanasia.

It is my hope that in reading the lives of the littlest suffering souls we may all grow in appreciation of the profound truth of the redemptive good of human suffering, and may be inspired to an ever-greater confidence in the grace of God to sustain us in our own sufferings, whatever they may be. May our reflection on the redemptive suffering of these littlest souls also lead us to a greater reverence and love for the lives of all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those who are most vulnerable and threatened in our secularized society. May Our Lady of Guadalupe, who appeared to St. Juan Diego in order to make known to all peoples the compassion of her maternal heart, help us to perceive more clearly the goodness of each human life, created in the image of God, and to care more effectively for all of our brothers and sisters without limit or boundary.