Redemptive Suffering
This zoom program is presented by our guest speaker Dcn. Arthur Miller
WHEN
Mondays
September 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2026
6 p.m. PST (9 p.m. EST)
WHERE
Virtual, via Zoom
(Link will be emailed to you once your register)
Registration $10
Sessions will be recorded.
Questions?
Email Margaret at theologicalacademy@socsj.org
Class outline
The four nights move through four aspects of redemptive suffering:
Night One
Spiritual Suffering — suffering that touches faith, trust, surrender, prayer, and the hidden work of God.
Night Two
Emotional Suffering — grief, fear, trauma, rejection, loneliness, and the healing mercy of Christ.
Night Three
Physical Suffering — illness, bodily limitation, aging, exhaustion, and Christ’s presence in the body.
Night Four
Empathetic Suffering — suffering with others through compassion, solidarity, justice, and intercession.
ABOUT THE COURSE
Redemptive suffering is the Christian mystery by which unavoidable suffering, when freely united with the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, becomes more than pain: it becomes prayer, purification, solidarity, witness, and love. It does not mean that suffering is good, nor does it require people to accept abuse, injustice, racism, poverty, or oppression passively. Rather, it means that when suffering cannot be avoided, the disciple can bring it to the Cross and allow Christ to transform it into compassion, courage, holiness, and service. Scripture gives this foundation in Jesus’ call to take up the cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). For Christians, redemptive suffering reaches its fullness not in pain itself, but in love that refuses despair and becomes a living sign of Christ’s redeeming power.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Deacon Art Miller is a nationally known preacher of God’s Holy Scripture, renowned speaker, author, and podcast host who has preached across the United States. The key elements of his preaching style and message: Scripture, storytelling, humor, honesty, unity, perseverance, grace, and the call to keep journeying toward God. His ministry is Deacon Art Miller Ministries LLC, a pastoral, evangelizing, and justice-centered ministry rooted in Catholic faith, public witness, and practical mercy. Deacon Art is the former Director of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Hartford and the author of Journey to Chatham; a book connected to the story of Emmett Till and the civil rights struggle.
Deacon Art and his wife, Sandy Miller, run Deacon Art Miller Ministries, where they work with women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, offering financial and emotional support. In the context of redemptive suffering, this aspect of the ministry shows that Christian suffering is never meant to remain abstract. The suffering of the vulnerable becomes a call to mercy, solidarity, and practical intervention.
Sources/pre-reads: Have your Bible during the session
Honorarium / donation to:
Deacon Art Miller ministries LLC
24 Meadowlark Dr
Windsor, CT 06095