Pope John Paul II taught that we can only begin to understand the meaning of suffering when we look to the cross of Christ. “In the cross of Christ not only is the Redemption accomplished through suffering, but also human suffering itself has been redeemed.” The Pope explains that suffering “is supernatural because it is rooted in the divine mystery of the Redemption of the world, and it is likewise deeply human because in it the person discovers himself, his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission.” Human suffering has been redeemed in the death and Resurrection of Jesus. As Jesus told us in the parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46, whatever we do for those who suffer, we do for Jesus. (On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, 19 and 31)