When I was twenty-five, I had a major brain hemorrhage. The doctor told me that I would be dead within two hours. I was paralyzed and unable to speak at this time. But, I heard a voice at that time that told me I would not die. I did live and when I was thirty-two, I became a Christian. I am now fifty-six; a college graduate; have been happily married for the past fifteen years; and joined the Catholic Church in 2018. I am so grateful that I now follow the Lord. Through His death on the cross, I was healed.

I am a 6"2' 230lb self proclaimed tough guy. This video made me well with tears. The years have difficult; my heart has been hardened and my faith shaken tremendously . Please, I ask for prayers for myself and those who have shared similar, sorrowful stories in the comments. Thank you Ascension Presents and Fr. Alar, this video will be bookmarked and watched daily. God bless.

I want to say that I suffer a great deal. I am bedridden, always in pain and nauseous. My dad has always told me that there is a reason for my suffering. This is the best written, well acted video I have seen on the reason why God allows suffering. 🙏💜

I literally JUST had a conversation about why God would let people suffer two days ago. This was great thank you!

He allowed his son to suffer crucifixion and now we have the opportunity to unite ourselves to Christ's sufferings.

Lord Jesus took away a lot of my suffering, I still suffer because of gossip and spies and stuff, but all my happiness is because of the mercy of Jesus, thanks to Saint Faustina

No suffering means surrounding ourselves with things we like, that please us, achieved without effort. This raises our "quality of life", which after short time will bore us, and we want more, and more, and more. With suffering there's growth, with suffering there's understanding of something superior to us, there's discovery of humility, of little things. Ask yourselves why rich people always complain of every little and useless thing: it's because there's almost no suffering in their lives, and its more likely they never discovered it. And the ones who did, grew up humble and generous.

Brothers and sisters, pray for me. My job has become a very heavy cross right now, and fear I am not carrying it well.

This last summer has been especially hard for my family, my uncle was murdered, and my parents are separating. This is exactly what I needed to hear. This to shall pass.

This is a powerful message for everyone who is suffering at this very minute. I surrender all to my Lord and Savior, who died for us and our sins! God have mercy on us and on the whole world. I'm praying for the grace to carry my cross. Thank you, Father Chris, for your prayers and ministry. May God continue to bless you, your parish and the entire world. Amen, amen!

In 2014, I lost my mother, in 2015, I lost my young intelligent brother and 7 months later, I lost my beloved father and it was hard. I have survived by God's grace and he has been faithful. I am yet to seen the good in all the suffering but I love God and I am devoted to being the best christian I can be. My father was a fervent Marian Devotee and hummed through pain until the end. Glory be God for their lives. Lord, help me to hold onto you, so that I can see them all one day in heaven.

This pandemia... my husband up till now would say "I really don't need to pray so much, I don't need that Catholic Couples Society" (I've tried to join with him, no luck). For the past few weeks we've been praying Rosary with those families every night, and today at 3pm my husband came to me and asked to pray Divine Mercy Chaplet. If there wasn't for this great suffering, my husbands would not changed so dramatically.

Redemptive suffering ! what a power and trust the Lord has on us that he allows us to share in His suffering

I want to thank you 🙏 for being a great catholic leader. You speak the truth and are very wise. I have suffered with the death of my Son. I still have faith in Jesus and Mother Mary. Amen

Praise be to God!

I asked God why he could allow suffering and starvation, then I realized he was asking me the same thing.

I was thinking about suffering, sacrifice and penance and eternity. Thank you Father and God bless. 🙏 Watching from New Zealamd🇳🇿

That was powerful and enlightening. Thank you Fr. Chris Alar. God bless you 🌻🙏

Belonging to Christ is Gracefully Blessed privilege for people who have suffered & for those who are suffering.

Thank you Father for this explanation. It will help many to take up their crosses for the glory of God .

suffering does take away pride, I can testify to that!

Praise be Jesus Christ and Blessed be our Mother Mary

It's actually not that difficult for me to understand. A couple years ago, while I was warring with God about my constant singleness, I read an anonymous user's perspective on the matter that is almost never shared in common religious circles: God could actually be mourning your singleness status with you, because He truly longs for you to fulfill His plans of marriage and family; but those dreams are, at least for now, rendered impossible because of so many people rejecting God (out of free will, which He would never dare rob us of) and therefore creating less of a selection for an appropriate, faithful partner. This perspective saved my relationship with Him for good. The idea that God mourns and is unwilling of all of our worldly tragedies, even if He already overcame them and can bring out a greater good, has proved His love for me more than anything else. Regardless of His plans or our plans, He cares about your feelings and never rejoices in your pain. In fact, He is often in pain with you. That is the sign of a true friend who is for us rather than against us. That is love.

I love this priest. Thank you!

Fr. Chris I thank you and God for your ordination as a priest. You continue to touch my life in very special ways with your explanation of God's love. Thanks again. (Gerard)

This is so powerful.Thank you very much Father.

God allows suffering to bring us closer to him…when do most people pray…when they’re suffering….dealing with something beyond their control…we can do nothing without God’s help and abundant blessings we can do everything with God’s grace…amen

Thank you for the reassurance that suffering brings hope. God bless your ministry

God Bless Fr. Chris Alar for this sharing.

Beautiful. Thank you.

Tremendous. How misunderstood the true value of suffering is even for many, if not most, "Catholics". May God bless the good Fr.

Humility and suffering brings us closer to God, it shows effort in all we do.

Great message for Holy Thursday! Very empowering and redemptive! God bless you all in your suffering!

Thank you Father oh what a timely vid I am in this situation somewhat and thank you for strengthening what I am struggling to believe. God bless Father 🥰

Fr Chris thank you. An excellent short video that explains the subject in a simple and easily understood way.

Thank you so much father Chris for this message of hope, same questions always I ask but you've just absolutely answered completely and now I realized that with suffering we are united and sharing God's sacrifices and love. I strongly believe that I will forever keep my fingers crossed in prayers and have faith and trust in God and surely will overcome all tribulations and challenges in life. God bless you my favourite priest.

thank you brother for this message, GOD bless you🙂❤️

God is Good Thank you Fr. Chris Alar. God bless you

Super amazing!!! Fr. Chris. Thank you so much for this homily! God Bless!

I was in so much need of this ... perfectly explained thank you father

Powerful message indeed. God bless you Fr. Chris Alar... please continue your incredible work of spreading the Lord's Divine Mercy.

Thankyou Father for your inspiring words

Thank You Father God Bless You

Amen, Fr. Chris. Thank you.

Dear Father, You look to be about 25 years younger than I am, an Army veteran and a policeman of 23 years and counting.... And already you have more wisdom with regard to our Blessed Lord than I may ever have. I shall pray the Glorious Mysteries of our Most Holy Rosary for you and priests like you. Much Love and God Bless You.

Praise Lord 🙏

Thank you Father for this beautiful explanation on a difficult subject. Your humility and Faith inspire me very much, God bless you

Powerful message and great reminder!! Thank you, Father!

Wow! Very timely. Very well explained. Nice video Father. Thank you!

Thank you Fr. Chris Alar, this was truly beautiful 🙌

Thanks very much Fr Chris.

Dziękuje!! Bóg zapłać. Praise be to Got!!

Thanks You Father

Thankyou father

I wish all videos on this channel would be subtitled in multiple languages ​​so that this content can reach as many people around the world God bless you

Let’s all be happy this Easter Sunday during these time of suffering

Thanks Father Chris Alar ! 🙏 ❤ More from Father Alar please.

couldn't be explained better, thanks! God Bless

Thank you Fr, God bless🙏❤️🙏

Thank you

Thank you for sharing this other aspect of suffering!!

It took time to me to understand this but it was so healing

Amazing!! Thank you Father. Very well explained ❤️🙏🏻

That was beautiful father, thank you.

Ave Maria cheia da graca o Senhor e convosco. Bendita sois Vos entre as mulheres e Bendito e o frutto do vosso ventre Jesus.

excellent Father. Thank you🙏🏻

Amen Father !

Thank you I needed to hear this. I have been dealing with an incurable disease & by Gods Grace I have been doing well but every now & then I take my eyes off of Jesus like Peter & fall into the water . Your talk pulled me out of the water into the boat to keep going & know there is a purpose

i watch all videos of Fr. Chris Alar "Explaining the Faith" series. He played a huge part on me loving the Catholic faith more and deeper. thank you Father Chris!

Whenever i am saying this; God always take my sufferings; kept it to HIM. And i said, "God if this is not for me take it away from me; but, if this is for me; i only wanted to do it through Thy Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary [because i have no merit; for whatever purpose They like to use it]." Then, i completely submitted. ///// Fr, maybe, also, God would like us to practice, "Active Faith" like the first 12 Apostles; or to silently use HIS NAME and call our LADY, our Mother to rebuke away Satan; and to stop all the works of Satan! We do not have to be shouting to do it. But, we could say it silently with all FAITH. I even greeted the Tornadoes; but maybe it was my imagination; as if the flow of big WIND stop for a 3 seconds in front of me; but, i only wish to say hi and i wish it well. But, this time; i told my Lord; that i only wish for the WILL of God for the conversion of all to our Catholic Faith [just the Faith; not the religion]. The Faith that Lord JESUS IS GOD as written, ISAIAH 48;17 54;5. And Faith that there are Saints and honor them as written, DANIEL 7;18 & 27; Matthew 12;32.; and then, i wish only HIS WILL to end the Coronavirus. HE said in my heart that HE WILL IF they Convert to this Catholic Faith [not sure if it means to the Religion or just the Faith]. I heard one Evangelist who long ago was very opposite of what he was teaching before; his name, Dr Charles Stanley; but, now he is teaching that Lord JESUS IS GOD! It started; but, it will take time for all to say yes to Lord JESUS AS GOD! I wish also for all JEWS to CONVERT to our Catholic Faith; because, no matter how eloquent their reasons were; then, they still need to answer, "Jews, how can you face the face of ISAIAH and MICAH in the next life?" "Because ISAIAH wrote 48;17 & 54;5 clearly that the MESSIAH, YESHUA, JESUS, IS GOD! And MICAH 5;2 wrote that HE will be born in Bethlehem; from old "EVERLASTING" Who will RULE ALL ISRAEL!" AMEN.

Wooooooooooo!!!! Yes! Amen! Wow! Just incredible.

Preach it!

He was despised and abandoned by men, A man of [b]great pain and familiar with sickness; And like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we had no regard for Him. 4However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. 5But He was [c]pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our [d]well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. 6All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the wrongdoing of us all To [e]fall on Him.

Thank you father. God bless you. Im seeing suffering as an opportunity to be like Christ.

Thank you so much for sharing this message and reminding me why I am suffering now. God bless you Father.

This topic is really really important and critical

We are thought never to just love the world but also love everything around it.

Great explanation of a difficult subject.Thanks

I don't doubt that God is all powerful, but it it still amazes me when I pray for strength in my sufferings and the Lord grants me strength, or wisdom or patience or which ever I need because I look back at it and I know there is no way I could have gotten through it on my own.

Wow 🙏🏼

Its out of some of the worst things that God turns into something beaitiful. You have to know that life really goes on after this. God is so merciful. Just never give up on trying to do better and show compassion to everybody. That homeless man on the street can be an angel. So love everyone. I dont care what color you are. You are all loved and I hope you have a blessed day and bless others as blessings come to you. Never allow your heart to turn cold or the enemy has you.

In my life, suffering created strength. The suffering I felt years ago, aren’t such strong anymore. So I take Step for step to reach higher ground... every decision made, I made with a good feeling. So I could find the Way, where , I believe, god is on my side.

The first humans chose the knowledge of good and evil so they were sent to where they could aquire it. The Lord only honored their choice. A being true to His word ... We are still learning. Interference serves no one. "Pain makes man think, thought makes man wise, wisdom enables man to endure"

AWESOME!

I really appreciate this video. I sent it to my teenage daughter who asks this question often. Thank you Fr. Chris for a great explanation. Loved it. God bless you.

God is good all the time!

Very helpful 👌

I am only 20 years old. I was diagnosed with stage one bone cancer 2 years ago and now the tumour has spread through my body. My doctors had announced there is no treatment for me. All I can do now is wait until I die. I started to lose sight of my left eye because of the brain tumour. Not to mention the unceasing pain. I am too young to die. I don’t want to leave my family and friends. I still don’t understand why I am suffering after watching this video. Nevertheless I still pray to god everyday for a miracle.

Pray for me father today , my name is suhail =su+hail and I live in dubai. Blessings . 💗💗💗

Whoever helps the orphans and the widows, the Lord will help them if they believe in Him HalleluJah

I wish this was in Spanish! I could send this TO LOADS of people 😅💜💜💜

I often times asked the same question. Why do we humans have to suffer? For example I have a friend of mine who suffers from Crohn's disease and sometimes the suffering and emotional pain was too much for him and he sometimes started crying nonstop and I gave him comfort and hugged him and said, "Gabriel, hang in there. Don't easily give up. I'm here for you. And remember what it says in the book of Psalms, 'If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.'" And today, I have him on my Holy Rosary prayer list and the Divine Mercy prayer list. I honestly don't know how long his Crohn's disease will last but I sincerely hope and pray that there's a miracle for him and hopefully he'll come back to the Catholic Christian faith.

In 2007, my husband and I began a 3 year loss. Our mothers and his cousin died in 2007, his brother, uncle and my grandmother died in 2008, and in 2009 his job went away. For 6 years--until 2013--we struggled to pay the bills on our own home and their 2 houses on an unemployment check and finally Social Security. As we we were finishing that part of our lives, my husband was diagnosed to begin kidney dialysis. He had always been a religious man and even told his doctors, "I'm not afraid to die". Sadly in 2017, after nearly 4 years of being on dialysis, he died in his sleep. My 3 years of a "roller coaster" were about to begin. I began to look at life as a single person, doing things I had always wanted and needed to do. My daughter who lived with me did the same as she balanced that with dating a young man she had met before her father died. We were just getting "out of the fog" of our loss, when her young man approached me asking permission to propose to her. On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (my birthday), he asked the question and she said yes. Our next year, 2019, was the beginning of a busy, happy and challenging year. While I missed sharing this event with my husband, our friends and family celebrated with us. And as you mentioned in your video about the little girl on the lap of Jesus, I think my husband was celebrating with all our family and friends in heaven. Yes, we had suffered, but God does bring us joy. My daughter is now facing back surgery to take away 9 months of back pain, so we thank God for the medical staff who will work to remove her pain.

Nice

Sometimes there is no answer to that question. Life will continue to be mysterious sometimes until we get to the other side when everyone will get the reward they have been working so hard for. Like working as a father for his country too while feeling angry enough to make a common Yiddish gesture maybe a bit too vigorously.

I am suffering from chemo and radiation side effects. And for my experience it almost seems more depressing when I enter the realms of hope. I literally have to use self confidence and motivation in order to move me out of hope. Hope brings depression during physical suffering. It is truely about enduring the situation with motivation, that things will be okay.

IN SUFFERINGS, WE KNOW GOD BETTER. WE WILL PRAY FOR HEALING, ASK GOD FOR OUR PROGRESS, OTHERWISE, WE ARE GOOD, WE DO NOT EVEN REMEMBER GOD, IN SUFFERING, WE KNOW TO PRAY BETTER.🥰❤🙏

Thank you for this wonderful and inspiring series of videos. I even got goosebumps. Although I don't agree with making love = "sacrifice" (like typical jewish views of love: love = sacrifice, love = discipline, love = following the rules, love = heterosexual reproductive instrument) and God as a super strict, judgemental, psychopathic being that loves us when we obey and other times he curses us and kills his own children, a very mean and hypercritical homophobic entity full of rage as interpreted by the jewish prophets back then. Rather, those who have seen and met God in their near death experiences say God is "unconditionally" loving, no matter what you are and without you having to do absolutely "nothing" to prove your love-worthiness. When you equate God = love = freedom = light = glory = unlimited knowledge = mercy = absolute and everlasting, unlimited and unconditional love and energy, you get a completely different view. It becomes the source of profound joy and appreciation. One more point here is I believe Jesus didn't die as "sacrifice" for our sin per se (once again based on the jewish logic and theology back then). God doesn't judge our sins. God forgives. We, ourselves will have to judge ourselves and feel the exact and equal amount of pains (and likewise with love or joy) we have caused on this world when we die. I believe Jesus died because God called him fir precisely that moment and it was his time to go back home. We don't get to decide when we die or for which cause. And when our time comes, it is inevitable. We all just die (physically) and go back to our origin, which is the God's realm. When our time comes, we will die no matter what and regardless of how we die. We can't defy - and just like Jesus didn't. He rather accepted and went back to his spiritual form. And that's the absolute truth he proved. Our real essence never die. Somebody or animals having to die because of sin is the biggest nonsense and distortion of truth (unfortunately exercised by many human tribes in the past). So the question is, as a Christian (myself as well), whether we are going to stick with the descriptions in the bible (which contains jewish books in the old testament) just because of the decision and choices made by a Roman emperor at one point in the history and they tried to reconcile these two vastly different belief systems (old and new) to make sense of them and recycle this old, so called the holy book, which is full of paradoxes and nonsenses, OR are going to update this book with new knowledge and understanding of God? Thank you for this wonderful and inspiring series of videos. I even got goosebumps. Although I don't agree with making love = "sacrifice" (like typical jewish views of love: love = sacrifice, love = discipline, love = following the rules, love = heterosexual reproductive instrument) and God as a super strict, judgemental, psychopathic being that loves us when we obey and other times he curses us and kills his own children, a very mean and hypercritical homophobic entity full of rage as interpreted by the jewish prophets back then. Rather, those who have seen and met God in their near death experiences say God is "unconditionally" loving, no matter what you are and without you having to do absolutely "nothing" to prove your love-worthiness. When you equate God = love = freedom = light = glory = unlimited knowledge = mercy = absolute and everlasting, unlimited and unconditional love and energy, you get a completely different view. It becomes the source of profound joy and appreciation. One more point here is I believe Jesus didn't die as "sacrifice" for our sin per se (once again based on the jewish logic and theology back then). God doesn't judge our sins. God forgives. We, ourselves will have to judge ourselves and feel the exact and equal amount of pains (and likewise with love or joy) we have caused on this world when we die. I believe Jesus died because God called him precisely for that moment; it was his time to go back home. We don't get to decide when we die or for which cause. And when our time comes, it is inevitable. We all just die (physically) and go back to our origin, which is the God's realm. When our time comes, we just can't defy - and Jesus didn't defy. He rather accepted and went back to his spiritual form. And that's the absolute truth he proved through his death. Not death = sacrifice for forgiveness of somebody else's sin. Every existence had always been forgiven and loved by God. Always. God is incomparable to a psychopathic human father figure who sacrifices his children for other children. God's mercy doesn't require anything. It's a gift, given freely by God. The concept of someone or animals having to die because of sin is the biggest nonsense and distortion of truth (unfortunately exercised by many human tribes in the past). So the question is, as a Christian (myself as well), whether we are going to stick with the descriptions in the bible (which contains jewish books in the old testament) just because of the decision and choices made by a Roman emperor at one point in the history and they tried to reconcile these two vastly different belief systems (old and new) to make sense of them and recycle this old, so called the holy book, which is full of paradoxes and nonsenses, OR isn't it time that we update this book with new knowledge and understanding of God? A real jam for many Christians and Christian entities, and I believe it is about time.

It is easy to speak about sufferings when you don't suffer yourself.

Do good deeds like helping the orphans and widows and the sick and avoid evil deeds like gossip and hate if you do not want to suffer. This is in the bible (Torah and New Testament)