Suffering as a force against evil

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
 -- Job 1:21

Pope Benedict XVI in his reflections on the life and death of his predecessor Pope John Paul II says:

"[We must] do the utmost to ensure that people can discover the meaning of suffering and are thus able to accept their own suffering and to unite it with the suffering of Christ. In this way, it is merged with redemptive love and consequently becomes a force against the evil in the world."

We need to understand this if we are to approach death with true dignity. Pope John Paul II gave us a great personal example of this.

The "choice" to commit suicide rather than to allow God to determine the time and manner of our death is another false choice like abortion and like divorce. It does not give us new freedom but rather enslaves us. Once these options become legally available the forces of society convert them from "choices" to inevitable outcomes.