Given the extensive apostolate carried out by the university chaplain, his adversaries sought to stop him. They chose from among themselves a highly intelligent young man of Chinese nationality to convince the priest of what they considered the “falsehoods of Christianity.” This young man, convinced of his own correctness and confident he could persuade the priest, approached him under the pretense of wanting instruction in the Christian religion. However, he was honest from the start, clearly stating that his intention was to learn in order to attack the faith more effectively and expose what he believed to be its lies.
The priest realized that God was presenting him with a very difficult trial—one he could not evade. For this reason, he decided to visit a sick young woman he knew, who bore her sufferings with holy resignation, offering everything and uniting herself to the Cross of Christ. He begged her to offer all her pains for the conversion of the Chinese youth and for his own steadfastness in faith.
Thus, the priest began meeting daily with the young man to instruct him in the Christian faith. Each day, he would call the sick woman, who informed him that her pains were steadily increasing. One day, at an unusual hour, the Chinese youth came to the priest and said, “Father, I can’t hold out any longer, I want to be baptized.” The priest immediately called the young woman to share this joyful news, but her mother answered and said, “She has just passed away.”
This beautiful story holds within it many lessons, including: the humility of the priest in asking for help, the power of truth, the importance of perseverance in apostolate despite difficulties. However, I want to focus on the young woman’s “co-redemptive” suffering—that is, the importance of uniting our sufferings as Christians to the Passion of Christ for the sake of the Church, as St. Paul says (cf. Col 1:24). Suffering has redemptive value, and we can offer it in service to Christ’s saving work, as this young woman did.
While Christ is the one and only Redeemer and universal Mediator between God and man (cf. 1 Tim 2:5-6), He willed to associate others as secondary mediators. Among these, the Blessed Virgin Mary holds an eminent place as the Universal Co-Redemptrix, but so too do all Christians, who are called to join Christ as secondary mediators or co-redeemers.
Union with the sacrifice of Christ the Redeemer is an indispensable condition for this to happen. Mere suffering is not enough—pain in itself does not sanctify. Rather, a free act of the will is required, consciously uniting one’s suffering to Christ’s sacrifice. Beyond the desire to do so, one must bear the suffering patiently out of love for God, accepting it as coming from His loving and providential hand.
Once united to Christ’s sacrifice, suffering can be offered for someone in particular, as in this story. In His Providence, God will grant the requested grace for that person—though, like all graces, it must be freely accepted, for God does not force anyone to receive His grace.
