*SUFFER/*SUFFERING - see SIN, IDOLATRY, GROW, HEAL, SALVATION, GLORY, STRUGGLE, PAIN, CROSS, TRANSCEND, DEATH
Made perfect through suffering. (Heb 2:10)
Ben Franklin said "Those things that hurt, instruct." (p20) Accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth. (p24) As we travel onward, we bear more and more pain - because of our very consciousness. Salvation is the process of becoming increasingly conscious - of healing and becoming whole (and holy). Freud recognized the relationship between healing and consciousness. (p25) The most healing thing that we can do with someone who is in pain is to sit there and be willing to share it. The more pain you are willing to take on, the more joy you will also begin to feel. (p28) (Further)
St. Paul believed that the humility that his physical weakness brought was actually the source of his spiritual strength. (p218) He felt that suffering is necessary to bring about vital spiritual growth. (p221) Suffering can help us stay sensitive to God's presence. The Cross is a reality in every Christian's journey. (p223) (Prayer)
Love and suffering are closely connected. It seems that love needs suffering in order to ripen - to complete the sensory with the supersenory which is evidently impossible without suffering. (Meaning, p275)
Everything in life must be viewed in proper perspective. Nothing is purely black and white; all has different shades and degrees. Compare your misfortune to those who are more miserable and acknowledge that you have been spared that greater misfortune. Such an attitude helps to reduce the burden and yields more insight into the nature of suffering. You can also become more broad-minded and more relaxed. It is obvious that our minds have a great role to play in making our lives more meaningful and happier. (Dalai Lama, p170-1)
Suffering involves 'I': 'I want this', 'I have not got that', etc. It is a mistake to think that the 'I' must go, that would be a denial of the changing self, rather than an affirmation of the changeless Self. The former path becomes one of self‑destruction rather than Self‑discovery. Unless a person first establishes an identity with the pure Self any attempt to rid himself of an illusory identity will only result in the creation of a new sense of identity and the replacement of one illusion by another. (TM, p123)
Creation is light and shadow both, else no picture is possible. If joy were ceaseless here in this world, would man ever desire another? Without suffering, he scarcely cares to recall that he has forsaken his eternal home. Pain is a prod remembrance. Creation is only a vast motion picture and that not in it, but beyond it, lies his own reality. (Yogi, p282)
The karmic law has been satisfied through slight suffering. (Yogi, p309)
Suffering is part of the garden of life, not an intruder into an otherwise perfect field of flowers. Without suffering you can't accomplish you goal of being noble, brave or righteous. Without suffering you can't become more than human. Right now we focus in on the suffering rather than on what you'll attain through it. (PS, 4/11/97)
Through suffering we empty ourselves and are filled with God's grace and love - to think of other people and their needs and to walk with them in their suffering and trials. (Gift of Peace, p71)
Suffering has nothing to do with the events [themself], but with one's reaction to them. We make real that to which we pay attention. It is your judgments which keep you from joy and your expectations which make you unhappy. All of this put together is what causes you dis-ease, and therein begins your suffering. (Conversations, p105-8)
------A Creed for Those Who Have Suffered ------
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey...
I asked for health, that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things...
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise...
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God...
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things...
I got nothing I asked for - but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among men, most richly blessed! (Roy Campanella, Soup, p268)
Without suffering, how could we prove our faith? Paradoxically, God is the closest to us when we are suffering. Suffering takes away that illusion that we have thinking we are in control. (Sr. Egan from St. Charles, SRC 11/7/96)
A God Who Feels - The idea of divine pathos is that God is interested in human history, that every deed and event in the world concerns Him and arouses His reaction. God is concerned about the world to the point of suffering. (Judaism, Wisdom, p221)
Emmanuel means God's saving presence with his people. The Suffering Servants of Yahweh endure difficulties, not as meaningless pain, but as an opportunity for personal growth and community reshaping. (ReadingOT2, p42)
The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18)
Made perfect through suffering. (Heb 2:10)
Union with God in contemplative prayer could result in a form of vicarious suffering. The transforming union is not a free ticket to happiness in this world. Thus the greatest trials of the spiritual journey may occur after the transforming union. Life, once one is in union with God, is what God wants it to be. It is full of surprises. You can be sure that whatever you expect to happen will not happen. You may have to learn to live with impossible situations. People who can live peacefully in impossible situations will make great headway in the spiritual journey. (Open Mind, p105-6)
If children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs of Christ, provided we suffer w/ him in order that we may also be glorified w/ him. (Rom 8:17)
If faith is unselfish and strong and loving enough, he'll even welcome suffering, because he realizes it gives him a still more privileged share with his crucified Leader. (Crucifix, p123)
God himself become human to show the world the real "meaning" of innocent suffering on the hill of Calvary. God offered the human race the opportunity to transform temporal defeats into eternal victories through union with the suffering Christ, the second Job. (Guide, p68)
We can only, like Job, humbly confess our ignorance, our limited view, our failings. If suffering is not deserved, it still could be for the ultimate good, either of the individual or of the world. (Common Sense, p31)
Suffering provides a valuable lesson to us. It can improve our character, give us humility and patience, help us get to know ourselves, and enable us better to APPRECIATE THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS. (Common Sense, p35)
through sufferings we have empathy w/ God & w/ Jesus' passion