Redemptive suffering

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Redemptive suffering is the Roman Catholic belief that human suffering, when accepted and offered up in union with the Passion of Jesus, can remit the just punishment for one's sins or for the sins of another. Like an indulgence, redemptive suffering does not gain the individual forgiveness for their sin; forgiveness results from God’s grace, freely given through Christ, which cannot be earned. After one's sins are forgiven, the individual's suffering can reduce the penalty due for sin.

[edit] Catholic theology

Christians believe that God loves mankind so much that He made Himself human in Jesus in order to redeem mankind:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (Jn 3:16)^[1]

It is believed that Jesus freed mankind from the bondage of sin:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal 5:1)^[1]

Thus one may consider that God paid for mankind's freedom from sin in His human incarnation:

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor 6:20)^[1]

The belief is that the price that God, in Jesus, paid for the redemption of mankind, is the Passion, that is, his suffering and agony that led directly to his Crucifixion. Christians believe that, as members of the Church, they are members of the body of Jesus Christ:

"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." (Rom 12:4–5)^[1]

"Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid." (1 Cor 6:15)^[1]

Hence, Orthodox Catholic theology presents the belief that our suffering can be united to that of Christ and so in union with His Passion:

"As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they pressed into service to carry his cross." (Matthew 27:32)

"Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church." (Col 1:24)^[2]