Suffering and Love.
The awareness of suffering is a typically human phenomenon. Animals suffer, but they do not know why; however, sometimes those who are pets turn to their owners, as if they perceived the pain. The legion of men and women who suffer is immense; in most cases, accompanied by their families. Love in the face of another’s suffering is a trait of humanity. The Church, from its origins, and insofar as it constitutes a great family, has inclined itself to the love of its suffering members. The model is the suffering of Christ on the Cross, which has a redemptive value.
The pains of the soul are more intense than those of the body. The mother and the father suffer for the pain or the waywardness of their children. Society has its own laws, and often it is the cause of pain, especially for its poorest members. It is true that crime exists, and that it causes the pain of the parents of criminals, especially when they fall into the hands of the police.
The correct perspective is the awareness of sin, recognized as an offense against God and neighbor. A world that lacks a sense of sin is an inhuman world, in which the awareness of suffering is an accident, a harm that people inflict on one another.
In today’s Argentina, the percentage of the poor, of those living on the streets, of heads of households who lack work, is growing. The main reason is the indifference of the State, which is replicated in the indifference of a large part of society.
The family, as a natural organization that must multiply by founding a typically human society, is decimated by the spread of uncontrolled sexuality and the rise of drug addiction. Children without family (without love) and without school cannot reach a happy adulthood. In children who have grown up humanely lies the future of society.
The principle of subsidiarity is a key point of the Church’s Social Doctrine. Man is necessarily subsidiary, and must take charge of another’s misfortune. Knowing that others suffer helps each person not to withdraw into their own pain, but to incline toward that suffering and assume it as their own as well. What one cannot do, another does.
Human pain is a mystery, since God has made us to be happy in this world, and to aspire to eternal happiness. The Triune God is happy, and the angels are happy. The Resurrection of Christ opens the doors to eternal happiness; the devil cannot prevent it, since he is negativity, the senseless aspiration to be like God. For the Christian, participation in divine life and happiness is a gift; He has made us for Himself, and in this the meaning of our life is fulfilled. The awareness of suffering is identification with the Cross of the Risen Lord.
+ Héctor Aguer
Archbishop Emeritus of La Plata.
Buenos Aires, Monday, June 22, 2026.
Saints John Fisher, bishop, and Thomas More, martyrs.
Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. –