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regard to the mystery of Christ%u2019s death and resurrection. The temporal distinctions that our mindsemploy appear incapable of embracing the fullness of this experience of faith, which is the basisboth of our union with Christ in his suffering and of the strength, consolation and friendship that weenjoy with him in his risen life.157. We see, then, the unity of the paschal mystery in these two inseparable and mutuallyenriching aspects. The one mystery, present by grace in both these dimensions, ensures thatwhenever we offer some suffering of our own to Christ for his consolation, that suffering isilluminated and transfigured in the paschal light of his love. We share in this mystery in our own lifebecause Christ himself first chose to share in that life. He wished to experience first, as Head,what he would then experience in his Body, the Church: both our wounds and our consolations.When we live in God%u2019s grace, this mutual sharing becomes for us a spiritual experience. In a word,the risen Lord, by the working of his grace, mysteriously unites us to his passion. The hearts of thefaithful, who experience the joy of the resurrection, yet at the same time desire to share in theLord%u2019s passion, understand this. They desire to share in his sufferings by offering him thesufferings, the struggles, the disappointments and the fears that are part of their own lives. Nor dothey experience this as isolated individuals, since their sufferings are also a participation in thesuffering of the mystical Body of Christ, the holy pilgrim People of God, which shares in thepassion of Christ in every time and place. The devotion of consolation, then, is in no wayahistorical or abstract; it becomes flesh and blood in the Church%u2019s pilgrimage through history.Compunction158. The natural desire to console Christ, which begins with our sorrow in contemplating what heendured for us, grows with the honest acknowledgment of our bad habits, compulsions,attachments, weak faith, vain goals and, together with our actual sins, the failure of our hearts torespond to the Lord%u2019s love and his plan for our lives. This experience proves purifying, for loveneeds the purification of tears that, in the end, leave us more desirous of God and less obsessedwith ourselves.159. In this way, we see that the deeper our desire to console the Lord, the deeper will be oursincere sense of %u201ccompunction%u201d. Compunction is %u201cnot a feeling of guilt that makes us discouragedor obsessed with our unworthiness, but a beneficial %u2018piercing%u2019 that purifies and heals the heart.Once we acknowledge our sin, our hearts can be opened to the working of the Holy Spirit, thesource of living water that wells up within us and brings tears to our eyes%u2026 This does not meanweeping in self-pity, as we are so often tempted to do%u2026 To shed tears of compunction meansseriously to repent of grieving God by our sins; recognizing that we always remain in God%u2019s debt%u2026Just as drops of water can wear down a stone, so tears can slowly soften hardened hearts. Herewe see the miracle of sorrow, that %u2018salutary sorrow%u2019 which brings great peace... Compunction,then, is not our work but a grace and, as such, it must be sought in prayer.%u201d [159] It means, %u201caskingfor sorrow in company with Christ in his sorrow, for anguish with Christ in his anguish, for tears37