You know, there is an American myth that denies suffering and the sense of pain. It acts as if they should not be, and hence it devalues the experience of suffering. But this myth denies our encounter with reality.
Even in a normal, head-first vaginal birth, the baby may actually do some suffering in her/his journey down the birth canal. If there are problems with the delivery, the level of suffering can be much greater. So suffering is so integral to human life that we come into this world already knowing it.
Being human is such an incredibly rich experience. Denying part of our reality is like drinking kool-aid instead of delicious aged wine. I like experiencing life in its fullness.
That this "American myth" exists is somewhat ironic because, from the very start of the colonial period, suffering has been an integral part of the collective American experience. And its denial have more to do with class and status and comfort level within our culture than with simply being American.
Suffering is an indicator that something is wrong. The wrong can be within or without. Without it, part of our "guidance system" is gone. We actually need pain and suffering to help us live.
The "denial of this reality" is taking us down a dark and dismal path if left unbridled - a dance with Death! As Msgr. ALex states, it is also a 'denial of LIFE'! A denial of LIFE, from the pre-born to the aged and then spreading its death-dealing tentacles to anyone inbetween. THe Devil got his toe in the door when he convinced us that we could dispose of animals in this way, after all,'it would be cruel to let them suffer', they say. This same "mentality" has now taken a foothold on Human Life and we just think we can 'dispose' of Suffering - of 'THE PERSON' because, after all, "Suffering" to the world 'is UNDESIRABLE' and should not only be avoided but 'done away with' as with 'THE PERSON' too, thereby "denying our encounter with reality"!
I very much like the metaphors that Kathleen Kelly uses of "drinking Kool-aid vs. aged wine". The world would have us all drinking Kool-aid in time, if we let them, perhaps doctoring it up with a little sugar too.
I am remembering something the late great English writer, Malcomb Muggeridge once said. To paraphrase: "it was not Happiness but Suffering that brought me to that place of JOY" - not Kool-aid (with or w/o sugar) but aged wine! Thanks Kathleen, you put it so well!!!
Something I forgot but meant to include in the above on the quote from Malcomb Muggeridge was that he also said: "Life without Suffering is like living a very banal existance" - there again, just a 'Koolaid existance'!
Jesus transformed "Suffering" into a 'Redemptive Jewel', instead of dismissing or denying it, as the 'World' would have us do. HE could have but HE chose to show us HIS WAY, the only WAY and our ticket to HEAVEN.
You can't get to Heaven on roller skates (as the old song says) but you can wearing your 'hair shirt'- Suffering.
Don't let "old wormwood" deprive you of this 'Redemptive Jewel! After all, Jesus paid the HIGHEST PRICE to clothe us with it and make us HIS own!
A final thought - if "Old Wormwood" could have his evil way,
it would be to convince us that he has a better way - a sugar coated way, but in reality, a 'DECEPTIVE way"! That, my dear friends, is his clever "denial" to "deny JESUS"!!!
JESUS saved the "best wine for last", the 'premium wine'- the vintage wine of HIS Sufferings and Yours - don't waste your "Sufferings" but unite them to JESUS!!!
To deny suffering is not only to deny reality but to deny life because as soon as a baby is born it is already old enough to suffer!
Msgr. Alex Rebello
Even in a normal, head-first vaginal birth, the baby may actually do some suffering in her/his journey down the birth canal. If there are problems with the delivery, the level of suffering can be much greater. So suffering is so integral to human life that we come into this world already knowing it.
Being human is such an incredibly rich experience. Denying part of our reality is like drinking kool-aid instead of delicious aged wine. I like experiencing life in its fullness.
That this "American myth" exists is somewhat ironic because, from the very start of the colonial period, suffering has been an integral part of the collective American experience. And its denial have more to do with class and status and comfort level within our culture than with simply being American.
Suffering is an indicator that something is wrong. The wrong can be within or without. Without it, part of our "guidance system" is gone. We actually need pain and suffering to help us live.
The "denial of this reality" is taking us down a dark and dismal path if left unbridled - a dance with Death! As Msgr. ALex states, it is also a 'denial of LIFE'! A denial of LIFE, from the pre-born to the aged and then spreading its death-dealing tentacles to anyone inbetween. THe Devil got his toe in the door when he convinced us that we could dispose of animals in this way, after all,'it would be cruel to let them suffer', they say. This same "mentality" has now taken a foothold on Human Life and we just think we can 'dispose' of Suffering - of 'THE PERSON' because, after all, "Suffering" to the world 'is UNDESIRABLE' and should not only be avoided but 'done away with' as with 'THE PERSON' too, thereby "denying our encounter with reality"!
I very much like the metaphors that Kathleen Kelly uses of "drinking Kool-aid vs. aged wine". The world would have us all drinking Kool-aid in time, if we let them, perhaps doctoring it up with a little sugar too.
I am remembering something the late great English writer, Malcomb Muggeridge once said. To paraphrase: "it was not Happiness but Suffering that brought me to that place of JOY" - not Kool-aid (with or w/o sugar) but aged wine! Thanks Kathleen, you put it so well!!!
Something I forgot but meant to include in the above on the quote from Malcomb Muggeridge was that he also said: "Life without Suffering is like living a very banal existance" - there again, just a 'Koolaid existance'!
Jesus transformed "Suffering" into a 'Redemptive Jewel', instead of dismissing or denying it, as the 'World' would have us do. HE could have but HE chose to show us HIS WAY, the only WAY and our ticket to HEAVEN.
You can't get to Heaven on roller skates (as the old song says) but you can wearing your 'hair shirt'- Suffering.
Don't let "old wormwood" deprive you of this 'Redemptive Jewel! After all, Jesus paid the HIGHEST PRICE to clothe us with it and make us HIS own!
A final thought - if "Old Wormwood" could have his evil way,
it would be to convince us that he has a better way - a sugar coated way, but in reality, a 'DECEPTIVE way"! That, my dear friends, is his clever "denial" to "deny JESUS"!!!
JESUS saved the "best wine for last", the 'premium wine'- the vintage wine of HIS Sufferings and Yours - don't waste your "Sufferings" but unite them to JESUS!!!
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