“God’s answer to man’s suffering is not to wave it away. God’s answer to man’s suffering is to enter into it, to suffer Himself.  Why did not He not just wave it away instead? It is because we needed to repent, and repentance only comes in the midst of suffering. We cannot come to ourselves like the Prodigal Son did if we do not even realize that we have left the Father’s house and wasted everything in a far country.”
(Fr Andrew Damick, Ancient Faith Blog)