Deacon James Keating reflects on why suffering exists without making it the goal of human life. He explains that suffering flows from the wounded condition of humanity in a fallen world, not from God’s original design. The true purpose of life is communion with God—sharing in the Trinitarian life of love and joy that God freely offers. While the human body and emotions inevitably endure weakness, sin, aging, and loss, these experiences can be taken up into grace. When suffering is joined to Christ’s life, death, and resurrection—most clearly in the Mass—it becomes a means of purification that prepares the soul for heaven. Nothing endured in union with Christ is wasted; all of it is gathered into divine love and transformed into deeper intimacy with God.

Emotional wounds, aging, and loss, often linger more painfully than physical suffering. Emotional pain remains destructive when it is left isolated, but it can be healed when it is consciously handed over to Christ in prayer. Over time, these wounds can become places of compassion rather than resentment. This can be applied to later life, where losses of health, status, possessions, and even family attachments can strip away false securities and invite a final, clarifying choice to live for God alone. This purifying process, even late in life, opens the soul to a profound simplicity and peace.

1. How does understanding that suffering is not the purpose of life, but a consequence of a fallen world, change the way I interpret my own hardships?
2. In what ways am I seeking intimacy with God as the central meaning of my life rather than comfort, success, or control?
3. How do I consciously unite my physical or emotional suffering with Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass?
4. Are there emotional wounds in my memory that I have not yet entrusted to Jesus for healing and transformation?
5. How might my unresolved pain be shaping my reactions, relationships, or patterns of avoidance?
6. In what ways could God be using loss, limitation, or aging to simplify my life and refocus my heart on Him?
7. How do I respond to grief and mourning—with openness to God’s love or with resentment and withdrawal?
8. Where might Christ be inviting me to allow my wounds to become a source of compassion for others?
9. How do I experience peace or quiet consolation even in times when joy feels distant or absent?
10. What would it look like for me to trust that no suffering united to Christ is ever wasted?

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., is a professor of Spiritual Theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO.

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page