Suffering comes in many forms, and there’s no escaping it. There has never been a single person who has not had a cross to bear. Yet one of the worst things to hear when we are going through something difficult is that it’s “God’s plan,” as this is not only unhelpful, but it’s just not true.
God does not want us to suffer any more than we parents want our children to suffer. He is a good Father, and He loves us more than we can ever imagine. But He does allow us to suffer. And if we let Him, He will help us carry our crosses and help us derive something good from our suffering.
All around us—in our families, our friend group, and in the saints in heaven—we can see examples of the good that comes from suffering. The life and death of one special young woman, whose feast day we celebrate on October 29, illustrated this beautifully.
Blessed Chiara Luce Badano is not yet a canonized saint, but her life is a shining example of how we can joyfully embrace suffering, offer it for others or unite it to Christ’s suffering on the cross, and then create something good from it.
Faith life
Chiara was born in a small town in northwest Italy. She was an only child, and her parents had prayed unceasingly for her. Friends and family say that, from the time she was small, she was generous, gentle, and extremely loving. The love she felt for others extended to sick classmates, the elderly, and the homeless. In fact, on one occasion, she felt so sorry for a fellow classmate with chicken pox that she decided to visit her when no one else would. Chiara explained, “I decided to do my homework over at her place so she wouldn’t feel lonely. I think that love is more important than fear.”
This love is something she lived every day, and through her holy example, she taught others how to love. When she was an adolescent, she discovered the Focolare Movement—a movement designed “to cooperate in building a more united world, inspired by Jesus’ prayer to the Father.” She became so dedicated to this movement that it changed her life and brought her closer to God. She once said, “I was not an authentic Christian because I did not live it fully. I won’t and cannot remain illiterate of such an extraordinary message.”
In many respects, Chiara was a normal teen who had friends, liked to play sports, and sometimes struggled in school. But the world was about to see that she was extraordinary. In 1988, when Chiara was just seventeen, she experienced a terrible pain in her shoulder. Her parents took her to the doctor, and they soon found that she had an aggressive form of cancer—osteogenic sarcoma with metastases. Her prognosis was dire.
Chiara endured treatments and surgeries, but the cancer spread, and she was not given long to live. As people often do when something terrible happens, Chiara sought God in prayer. She spent 25 minutes talking to Him, and when she finished, she told her parents that she was ready to suffer for God.
From that moment on, she suffered joyfully, giving all her pain to Him. At times, her friends would visit her with the intention of cheering her up, but they always found that she cheered them up instead. Chiara explained that one of the things that sustained her was her knowledge that she was “immensely loved by God.”
Chiara died on October 7, 1990, less than two years after her initial diagnosis.
Trusting in God’s goodness
Chiara’s life beautifully exemplifies how we too can embrace our suffering—from the minor annoyances of life to the devastating blows we sometimes suffer to everything in between. God wants it all.
No, God does not want us to suffer, but He wants us to rely on Him when we do suffer. He wants us to trust in His goodness and in His mercy. And He wants us to know that He will never abandon us.
We can learn so much from Chiara Badano—a young woman who willingly and joyfully carried her cross. Because of her example, countless people around the world have been touched by her story and have grown closer to God.
Chiara taught us that joy in Christ is not dependent upon feeling well or being healthy or anything worldly. Suffering doesn’t have to steal our joy because true joy comes from knowing that we are beloved children of God and that He will always love and care for us.
Teach your high schoolers about this amazing young woman with Embracing a Culture of Life: Blessed Chiara Luce Badano, a lesson from the Culture of Life Studies Program.
This article first appeared in the Catholic World Report at catholicworldreport.com/2024/10/29/suffering-joyfully-is-possible-with-god.
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