It is not often that we think of the greater love that can be achieved from suffering and pain during our lives on earth. Rather, we are inclined to pray to our Lord to relieve the suffering and pain of those who are experiencing it and that is an appropriate way to express our love of our fellow human beings and indicate our desire that their pain be diminished.

But suffering, pain and sacrifice can also be endured as a means to demonstrate a greater love of our Lord and of one another. We have no greater demonstration of that than the passion of our Lord who through his suffering and pain demonstrated the greatest love of us that could possibly be demonstrated by God himself. Jesus did not need to suffer death for us. He suffered his passion and death to show us that no greater love can take place than to lay down one's life for another. His whole life was a demonstration of his great love and mercy for every individual on earth.