Jesus said, the Son of Man “…must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation” (NRSV, Luke 17:25)

The wounds of Christ are the unmistakeable evidence of his sufferings that Good Friday.

Suffering is both a fact and a problem of life.  The problem has been stated by saying that if God is all-powerful and allows suffering, then he is not all-good; if he is all-good and allows suffering then he is not all-powerful.  But there are certain factors which raise the problem to a level where, for the Christian, although it remains a mystery, it ceases to be a problem.

Much suffering is caused by the carelessness or the malice of others.  And if we ask why God allows them to inflict suffering, the answer must be that God made us as real people with a real freedom of choice.  He could have given us no option but to carry out his will to the minutest detail – to be no more than computers programmed by himself.  As it is, we are real people and he allows us to be real people by respecting our freedom.