Suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.

I did not come up with this saying and it is incomplete as it is. It comes from the St. Augustine, doctor of the Church. More complete his statement reads:
"Let us understand that God is a physician,
and that suffering is a medicine for salvation,
not a punishment for damnation.”

We question why suffering exists. Particularly, why do the innocent suffer? Everyone needs the Divine Physician. We are all ill. The sickness that is original sin affects us all, even those who appear completely innocent. Original sin does not discriminate. It affects us all at the beginning of our being.

So, we all need to be saved. We all need the salvation that comes from God alone. But suffering still seems unnecessary to us. But suffering fulfills two purposes: (1) it can be used as an offering of love to others; (2) it shows us the brokenness that we currently have.

The second point about showing us our own brokenness is as important as the first. If we do not see our brokenness, we cannot do anything about it. The old adage of “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” applies rather well. When we suffer, we see that there is something wrong. Much like physical pains tells us to go to the doctor, spiritual pains tell us to go to God.

God loves us and does not desire us to suffer, but He is foremost concerned with our salvation. He loves us so much that He desires to be with us in the eternal joy that is Heaven. Physicians sometimes must cut into healthy skin to remove an unhealthy tumor.

As for the first point about using suffering as an offering of love to others, we can offer our sufferings for the benefit of others. Jesus offered His sufferings for our eternal salvation. Though we are not perfect like Jesus, our sufferings can be offered for others and are especially powerful when we unite them to Jesus’ sufferings.

Our sufferings will come. We can use them to incentivize us to attain Heaven where there is no suffering, but we can also offer our sufferings for others. If we do both, our sufferings can lead to our salvation and the salvation of others. We are one Body in Christ and should work together and for each other. Like the hand removes the thorn in the foot, we can help others in the Body of Christ.