When Trauma Comes to Your Home

How do you respond when trauma enters your life? How does God desire us to respond in times of trauma and suffering? Jeff Cavins shares about a very recent situation in his own life that has brought trauma and suffering to someone he loves. He shares wisdom from St. John Paul II and Scripture to offer advice on how to respond in times of trauma.

Snippet from the Show
“It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls”
(St. John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris)

The Different Purposes of Suffering in Salvation History

• Punitive - punishment for sin
• Probative - a test
• Disciplinary - educational form of suffering
• Love

St. John Paul II Quotations from Salvifici Doloris

• “This is an extremely important aspect of suffering. It is profoundly rooted in the entire revelation of the old and, above all, the new covenant. Suffering must serve for conversion, that is, for the rebuilding of goodness in the subject (SD 12).
• “In the cross of Christ, not only is the redemption accomplished through suffering but also human suffering itself has been redeemed” (SD 19).
• “It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls” (SD 27).
• “Down through the centuries and generations, it has been seen that in suffering, there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace” (SD 26).
• “For suffering cannot be transformed and changed by the grace from outside, but from within. And Christ through his own self that the suffering is very much present in every human suffering and can act from within that suffering by the powers of his Spirit of truth, his consoling Spirit” (SD 26).
• “The springs of divine power gush forth precisely in the midst of human weakness. Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserved in their own sufferings a very special particle of the infinite treasure of the world's redemption and can share this treasure with others” (SD 27).

Scripture Quotations

Colossians 1:24

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.”

Romans 8:28

“We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”

Hebrews 12:5

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

“My grace is sufficient for you. For power is perfected in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 4:8–11, 14

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not for sake; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we will live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh…, Knowing that he who raised the Lord will raise us also with Jesus.”

2 Corinthians 1:5

“For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort too.”

Romans 8:17–18

“We are… fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.”

1 Peter 4:13

“Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

1 Peter 2:20–23

“For to this, you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted in him who judges justly.”

1 Peter 4:19

“Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.”

Hebrews 5:8

“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”