Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror up to where you’re bravely working. Expecting the worst, you look, you look, and instead, here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see. Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be […]
An explanation for some forms of suffering… by Daryl Furuyama at Whitehat Blackbox
There is a line from a William Stafford poem: “It’s for the best,” my mother said, “Nothing can ever be wrong for anyone truly good.” And then I look at the suffering Jesus endured, and the suffering of all people. If any one was definitely good, it would be Jesus. As for me, the only […]
I ventured out recently into the blogsphere and discovered this meme via Sarx (with some links in the chain A and the original). if the nature of god is omnipotent, benevolent, and anthropomorphic (that god is a person, who sees suffering as wrong, and can change all of it), why does god not act to […]
Inspired by this article on constraints and brevity, and the website One Sentence, here is a story in one sentence: I would have searched the world over to find the words to heal her pain, but there are no such words, only time and someone to just be there.
From Br. Joseph — At some point in every faith journey, one finds him or her self taking an inventory of their core, central beliefs. Some of these beliefs are held very tightly, some loosely. The more central a belief, the more one aligns his or her identity. Paula D’Arcy describes her seven central beliefs […]
This statement by Ronald Rolheiser, from his book The Shattered Lantern, got me to wondering. When there is no pattern to our actions we experience meaninglessness. Just because I do not recognize or perceive a pattern, does this mean that there is no pattern? Would God do this to me or to us? Would He […]
From Br. Joseph (Aug. 28, 2007) — A few years ago, a priest gave a wonderful little homily on tarnish. You know about tarnish, that stuff that builds up and covers the shine of metal objects like gold, silver, brass and such. One summer, the sister in charge of the summer work-grant students had noticed […]
I was talking with an older friend whose wife is the middle of battling the second stage of a debilitating disease. They chose to adopt two children years ago instead of passing this 50-50 chance, hereditary disease on to the next generation. Early in their marriage, he witnessed his mother-in-law progress through the disease that […]
My deepest desire and most longing want is to see the face of Jesus Christ. Based on one of the Beatitudes, my daily prayer is for God to purify my heart so that I may see Him, see Him in others, and for others to see Him in me. I often think or imagine or […]
As one has to learn to read or to practice a trade, so one must learn to feel in all things, first and almost solely, the obedience of the universe to God. It is really an apprenticeship. Like every apprenticeship, it requires time and effort. He who has reached the end of his training realizes […]
Another parabox—joy and suffering, both come from love. A friend shared this meditative reflection with me recently. I asked permission to post it. I feel waves of suffering coming from within my being. It’s as if they are at regularly determined intervals and I am just riding them; allowing each one to bounce me up […]
The word mercy is one of those loaded words with many meanings and connotations. Unfortunately, the modern use of this word has tended to focus on its association with the word pity or clemency. The older meaning of mercy, the one intended in a religious or spiritual context, means so much more. A quick seach […]