Parish of the Holy Savior

every animal has the capacity to experience pain, and in this life there’s no real way of completely avoiding it. Yet suffering retains the character of a choice we make. We may not be able to make the hurt go away, but we have some control over how we think about our pain, and how we chose to respond to it. And that gives a different character to suffering than merely experiencing pain. Pain is meaningless. But suffering, since it involves our intellect, will, and freedom; suffering can have meaning and value. Suffering, although painful, doesn’t deprive us of our humanity.