There is a place for taking up one's cross in the Christian life. There are times when, like a good soldier, we need to accept our share of hardship for the sake of the Gospel. The Bible couldn't be clearer about this. And yet, as one preacher put it, "In the church there is an admiration for pain and suffering that goes far beyond what the Bible ever intended." Whether or not this is a uniquely Catholic problem, this is indeed a Catholic problem. There is a cultural fixation on the value of suffering that results in obscuring other Christian values, and one value in particular - the value of victory. (Post 1/3 on suffering.)

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