Jesus never explained the meaning of suffering, He lived it. The Cross is a real mystery, as much as life is a mystery. The spirituality of a Christian, therefore, must also embrace suffering but never in a fatalistic fashion. We are never just asked to resign ourselves to our predicament. God does not wish suffering. Nonetheless, we do encounter the many faces of suffering - our own personal anguish, frustrations, disappointments, hurts, brokenness, sinfulness and that of others. There are many little 'deaths' in our life journey - the death of youth, of our ego, of some of our dreams, of some relationships, perhaps of some good health. But we also recognise that the cycle of life and death is essential to our humanity.

How do we make sense of all these? For us Christians, we must inevitably find meaning in the cross. The cross is a symbol of life, not death. A spirituality of the cross, therefore searches for ways to allow suffering to be transformed into a new depth of our being as children of God. Failure and death is not intended to be an end but a new beginning - the paradox is most profound: it is only in dying that we can truly live; it is only in losing everything that we can gain all. For a follower of Christ, suffering does not have a gloomy finality. For a Christian, it is the other face of the resurrection.