By DEXTER DUGGAN
PHOENIX — St. John Paul II’s 1984 apostolic letter on redemptive suffering, Salvifici Doloris, was the focus of a Lenten program of reflection offered to members of the Catholic Medical Association of Phoenix (CMAP) by a young pastor of the Diocese of Phoenix.
Fr. Dan Connealy, ordained in 2016 and recently appointed pastor of Phoenix’s St. Joan of Arc Parish, said St. John Paul “proposes the subject of suffering as a mystery,” not as a problem, which would have a practical solution to fix it.
Connealy previously served at the Newman Center at Northern Arizona University, in the mountains of Flagstaff, Ariz., in addition to doing parish work there.
The April 6 reflection, held at Phoenix diocesan headquarters, was one of CMAP’s monthly meetings seeking to reinvigorate Catholic medical workers’ involvement with Church teaching as part of their conscience and practice.
To the left of the lectern was a banner saying: “Catholic Medical Association: Upholding the principles of the Catholic faith in the science and practice of medicine.”
The monthly gathering typically lasts about four hours and includes Eucharistic adoration, opportunity for Confession, Mass, and a lunch, as well as a speaking topic of the day.
“John Paul II says suffering seems to belong to man’s transcendence,” Connealy said. “. . . Redemption is accomplished through the Cross. . . . If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for us. . . .
“If you find a way to get rid of suffering, let me know….We want to approach it with compassion,” he said.
Jesus is waiting for people to turn to Him when nothing else satisfies, Connealy said. “It is Jesus who stirs in you” the desire “to do something great.”
Connealy recalled that the Pope said not all suffering is the result of sin.
The priest cited the biblical conversation between God and Satan where God praised His faithful servant Job, but Satan contended Job would turn against God if his prosperity ended. So God permitted Satan to tempt His servant severely.
Job’s “suffering is the suffering of someone who is innocent,” Connealy said, adding that this suffering shows God doesn’t punish “just for the sake of punishing.”
God allowed the suffering “to demonstrate His own righteousness,” he said.
(At the end of this biblical account, after Job was tested and proved his faithfulness, God not only restored his prosperity and happiness, but doubled them.)
John Paul II proposed that people look at the example of the Chosen People suffering in the desert, Connealy said, who explained that their punishments were “not designed to destroy the people of Israel but to discipline them,” as “a way for rebuilding good….The purpose of penance is to overcome evil.”
People “must look to the revelation of divine love,” Connealy said — where God so loved the world that He gave His Son for it.
“Salvation is a gift. God gives His Son freely. . . . God gives Himself in a definitive way,” he said.
But people can decide not to receive the gift.
If people “don’t desire to go to Heaven, God’s not going to make you,” Connealy said. “. . . He’s not going to drag us to Heaven.”
The “true pain of sin is always separation from God,” he said.
After breaking for religious observances in the diocesan headquarters’ chapel and a buffet lunch of green salad, fruit salad, sandwiches, and cookies, Connealy resumed his presentation.
“It’s one thing to understand suffering objectively,” he said, but medical workers may witness suffering that can’t be relieved — even though, on the ultimate level, through Christ’s suffering, “all human suffering has been relieved.”
He recalled Christ’s feeling of abandonment on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
But Jesus even looked at those who killed Him “as children of the Father,” Connealy said.
It’s through faith that the cross bridges people over to the Resurrection, he said, citing the thought of St. John Paul. “Do not seek Christ without the cross.”
People should “let the Lord know that He’s welcome in our suffering. . . . The Lord can’t fix anything if He’s not invited,” Connealy said.
“It’s not like we have to go out and seek opportunities to suffer. They come” anyway, the priest said, drawing laughter at this familiar fact of life.
Having been in Rome as part of his studies for the priesthood, Connealy said homeless people are all around there. “Each of us is questioned . . . who is my neighbor?. . . We as disciples of the Lord cannot approach suffering indifferently. . . . ‘Compassion’ is ‘to suffer with’. . . .
“Man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself. John Paul II repeated this over and over again,” Connealy said.
Calling further on the late Pope’s thought, Connealy said, “Christ’s attitude toward the suffering is not one of passivity,” and, “Suffering is present in the world in order to release love.”
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