Date of Award

Fall 9-11-2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA Theology

Department

Theology

Advisor

Rev. Joseph R. Laracy, S.T.D.

Committee Member

Justin Anderson, Ph.D.

Keywords

Conformation to Christ, Passion and redemption, Grace and salvation, Sacramental theology, Mystical body, Virtue and suffering, Thomistic anthropology

Abstract

This thesis investigates the theological meaning of Christian suffering in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. While much attention has been given to Aquinas’s treatment of the problem of evil, little has been written on the positive and salvific meaning of suffering as it appears in his Christology, sacramental theology, and moral theology. This study aims to demonstrate that for Aquinas, suffering—when united to Christ—acquires a redemptive value that transforms human pain into a means of configuration to the crucified and risen Lord.

The first chapter develops the Christological foundation of Christian suffering. Drawing primarily from Summa Theologiae III, q. 69, a. 3 and Aquinas’s Commentary on Colossians 1:24, it shows that Christ, as head of the mystical body, redeems human suffering through His own Passion. Because the faithful are united to Christ as members of one mystical person, they can participate in His redemptive suffering. The notions of Christ’s headship, capital grace, instrumental causality, and merit provide the theological framework that explains how Christ’s Passion continues to operate in believers. Thus, the meaning of suffering is not found in endurance alone but in the believer’s participation in the suffering of the Head, whose charity gives suffering its ultimate purpose.

The second chapter examines the sacramental dimension of this configuration. The sacraments, as instrumental causes of grace, extend the saving action of the incarnate Word throughout history. Baptism, the door to the Christian life, incorporates the believer into Christ’s death and resurrection, transforming the penalties of this life into occasions for growth and conformity to the Savior. The Eucharist, the perfect sacrament of union, deepens this participation by uniting the communicant to the sacrifice of the cross, making the faithful sharers in both the Passion and the glory of Christ. Through the sacraments, the believer’s suffering becomes an efficacious means of communion and transformation.

The third chapter explores the moral dimension of suffering within the providential order. Aquinas interprets suffering not as divine abandonment but as a pedagogical instrument of God’s providence, allowing the soul to grow in virtue, particularly in patience, hope, and charity. The trials of the present life prepare the faithful for eternal beatitude by purifying the heart and conforming it more perfectly to Christ. In this way, suffering contributes to moral and spiritual maturity, integrating human fragility into the process of sanctification.

Ultimately, the thesis concludes that, for Aquinas, the meaning of Christian suffering lies in the mystery of charity and communion. Through Christ’s Passion, suffering ceases to be an absurd evil and becomes a privileged participation in divine love. United to Christ the Head through the sacraments and animated by grace, the faithful discover that their pain can be redemptive—both for themselves and for others—within the one mystical body of Christ.

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