Suffering is the necessary feeling of evil. If we don’t feel evil we stand antiseptically apart from it, numb. We can’t understand evil by thinking about it. The sin of much of our world is that we stand apart from pain; we buy our way out of the pain of being human.
Jesus did not numb himself or withhold from pain. Suffering is the necessary pain so that we know evil, so that we can name evil and confront it. Otherwise we somehow dance through this world and never really feel what is happening.
Brothers and sisters, the irony is not that God should feel so fiercely; it’s that his creatures feel so feebly. If there is nothing in your life to cry about, if there is nothing in your life to complain about, if there is nothing in your life to yell about, you must be out of touch. We must all feel and know the pain of humanity. The free space that God leads us into is to feel the full spectrum, from great exaltation and joy, to the pain of mourning and dying and suffering. It’s called the Paschal Mystery.
The totally free person is one who can feel all of it and not be afraid of any of it.
from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p. 209, day 218 (Source: Days of Renewal)
Current mantra:Prayer and suffering are the two primary paths of transformation>
Dear Lord... soo many things come to mind... but not much of it is making any sense. Primarily I think of Country's preoccupation with money, money, money... no one wants to feel the fear of being fragile... who wants to admit to that? And what have our Corp gods done to rescue us from this sinking ship?? Well it seems they have taken the life preservers for themselves... and we should not be surprised after all... all goes to Ceasar which is Ceasars... and Let us, although afraid and unsure, give to God what is Gods.....
We are only passing through this place, after all.
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