Wiling to Suffer Affliction and Loss

 i have written before about my difficulties with belief in "intercessory prayer."  most christians believe that by fervent prayer God will cure those who are sick.  we read of the many instances in which jesus cured all sorts of physical and mental illnesses.  the gospels tell us that it was his healing that attracted many to him.  this whole idea that jesus, acting on God's behalf, was able to reverse the course of disease, open the eyes of the blind, or cast out the demons of insanity with a word or a touch seems to me to be a distraction from his central message.  through his life and teachings jesus shows us that God is a god of love, not a god of vengeance and pettiness. 

 if we accept that God cures our ills of body and mind when we pray, then we may also believe that God causes those illnesses, as well.  when we get cancer, it must be God's will that we suffer from the disease.  it follows that if we beg in just the right way, then we change God's mind and are cured.  it is harder for us to recognize that suffering is a part of the human condition.  much of our suffering is caused by our own minds, but the hurts caused by disease, aging, and the loss of loved ones are pains that come to us no matter what we do or how we think.  while we can take steps that cause us to be less likely to become ill by living healthy lives that delay the effects of aging, and we can care for those we love in such a way that we are less likely to lose them.  in the end, we all get sick, we all get older, and those we love die.

 

one of the great mysteries of life is the "why" of suffering.  there is no mystery in the fact of suffering.  we all suffer.  we all die.  we can choose how we deal with suffering but we can't prevent every pain in life.  one of the poorest ways to deal with suffering, it seems to me, is to ignore our humanity and ask God to remove the causes of our suffering.  for God to do such a thing would mean that God is making us less human.  God doesn't cause our pain, and it is not God's responsibility to remove it, nor should God be expected to deal with it when we will not.  it is the nature of God to suffer along with us, to love us, and to inspire us to have compassion for the suffering of others.  to worship God is to embrace the Divine Love within us as we follow the example of jesus to love no matter what.  without suffering, we are not fully human.  without suffering, we cannot be truly joyful.  without suffering, we cannot grow and learn.  even though we hurt, we cannot enjoy the full range of our humanity unless we experience pain and loss.  it is not avoidance of suffering that we must seek, but rather the wisdom to deal with our suffering and to be grateful for it.

may we recognize our common human condition.  may we act with lovingkindness and compassion for ourselves and each other.  may we be grateful for all the gifts of life.  may we see the good that arises from our suffering.  may we turn to our inner strength to deal with our pain rather than expecting a supernatural being to remove it.  shalom.