QUOTATION: Love and Suffering

When we know that the way of love–this exodus, this going out of oneself–is the true way by which man becomes human, then we also understand that suffering is the process through which we mature. Anyone who has inwardly accepted suffering becomes more mature and more understanding of others, becomes more human. Anyone who has consistently avoided suffering does not understand other people; he becomes hard and selfish.

--Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald, 2002