Today, we consider that to accept the “other” who suffers, means that I take up his suffering in such a way that it becomes mine also. Because it has now become a shared suffering, though, in which another person is present, this suffering is penetrated by the light of love. The Latin word “con-solatio”, “consolation”, expresses this beautifully. It suggests being with the other in his solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude.

God became man in order to suffer-with-man in an utterly real way—in flesh and blood—. Hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence “con-solatio” is present in all suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love—and so the star of hope rises.

This capacity to suffer depends on the extent of the hope that we bear within us. The saints were able to make the great journey of human existence in the way that Christ had done, because they were brimming with great hope.