Sickness, pain can lead to enrichment of soul, pope says

Published: 2004-06-02

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Sickness and pain can lead to purification and the enrichment of the soul, Pope John Paul II said. Suffering can have a hidden value when it becomes "a path to purification, inner freedom and the enrichment of the soul," he said to some 13,000 pilgrims June 2 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. In his catechesis, the pope reflected on Psalm 41. The psalm focuses on the meaning of sickness and pain from the point of view of a man who is ill and faces derision from his enemies and indifference and abandonment from his friends, the pope wrote. At the time of the psalmists, "every pain corresponded to a sin. ... For the ancient Jews, sickness was an appeal to the conscience to set forth on a path of conversion," he said in his written address. But through the saving power of Christ, "illness is not a result of sin"; it is an occasion for the suffering person to create a special bond with God who will support him with his grace, he wrote.

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