Why Must I Suffer? Quotes

“The sixth reason why you are visited with suffering of various kinds is this: God desires to preserve you from the extremely painful and entirely unmeritorious sufferings of Purgatory.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“There is no other way to Heaven except the way of the cross.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“Jesus Christ set such a high value on your immortal soul that He deliberately chose sufferings of the greatest intensity and endured them gladly that you might one day be admitted to the unspeakable bliss of His heavenly kingdom.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“God does not willingly see you suffer, and it is only with reluctance that He afflicts you. His great love for you constrains Him to act in this manner. And since love is the motive, He will not send you more pain than needed for the cure of your soul and its restoration to health. He uses just the right measure, neither more nor less, even as a skillful surgeon cuts away only as much diseased tissue as he finds necessary for the saving of his patient’s life.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“1. Imitate the Prodigal Son and return to God with sincere sorrow for your sins, securing the fulness of His pardon by a contrite confession. You must be in the state of grace before your suffering can be meritorious for Heaven. 2. Humbly acknowledge that you have fully deserved your sufferings—nay, even the eternal pains of Hell—by mortal sin. If you have not been condemned, it is solely because God’s mercy has spared you and given you time for repentance. 3. In the spirit of an abiding sorrow for your sins, make sure to unite all your sufferings with those of Our Lord dying on the cross, and make a frequent offering of them thus united, to the Divine Justice in atonement for the wrong you have done. By acting in conformity with these suggestions you will reap a threefold benefit: You will insure the complete pardon of all your sins; you will quickly cancel the debt of temporal punishment contracted by them and thus shorten your Purgatory”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“It remains for you, therefore, dear reader, in case you are a victim of sufferings which you have brought on yourself in any way, to learn the secret of turning these to good account. It is true, it was not God’s will that you should be thus afflicted. But now that you have failed and brought this evil on yourself, it is God’s will that you derive from it all the good that He has made it possible for you to obtain.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“Such sufferings afford the good an opportunity of making full atonement for their personal sins. For there is no one so holy and so confirmed in grace that he has not committed some sins, such at least as are venial. “Even the just man shall fall seven times,” i.e., frequently. But it is an unchanging law that every sin, even the smallest, must be fully expiated either here, or hereafter in Purgatory. But expiation made here is vastly more profitable than that which is made after death.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“The sufferings endured by the good have a much greater atoning value than those endured by the wicked. Hence the more good persons there are to join in making the required atonement, the more quickly will it be made. Besides, God is easily moved, out of consideration for the sufferings of the good, greatly to mitigate His punishments, and sometimes even to cancel them altogether.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“Those who are innocent of actually taking part in public sins are not for that reason always wholly free from guilt in the sight of God. Very often they are guilty of these sins in an indirect manner – accessory to them, as it is called. Thus they may have connived at some form of immorality; they may not have protested against it; they may have neglected to use their authority, or influence, or right to vote, to hinder its introduction, or to procure its removal when already introduced, and all this from indifference, human respect, fear of persecution, of loss of business and similar unworthy reasons.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“God is exceedingly patient and long-suffering, and does not willingly inflict general chastisements, however richly they may be deserved by a community. He rather desires that His offending children seek His pardon by means of a timely repentance and conversion.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“As a member of society and a citizen of your country, you must unite with the rest in making the atonement and reparation which Divine Justice requires for the public and national sins committed in the community in which you live.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“If God foreknew the fatal consequences of original sin, why did He not prevent Adam from committing that sin?” or: “Why does God not hinder the commission of sin now?” or again: “Why does He not hinder wicked persons from doing what brings suffering to the innocent?” To these objections the only answer is this: God has created man a free agent. The noblest faculty man possesses is his free will. With the exercise of this faculty God does not interfere in any way. Any interference would mean a limitation, a deprivation of free will, at least partially. This would in turn mean that man is not responsible for his moral actions. Interference with his free will would also do away with merit and demerit; reward for good deeds and punishment for evil acts.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?

“Of the many reasons why you must suffer, the first and principal one is this: As a child of Adam and a member of the great human family, you must, like all the rest of men, endure your share of the painful consequence of original sin.”
― Fr. Francis. J. Remler, Why Must I Suffer?