Why Suffering?<\/strong>\nTuesday, \u202fApril 14, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Sooner or later, the heart of everybody\u2019s spiritual problem is \u201cWhat we do with our pain? Why is there evil? Why is there suffering?\u201d Job begs God for an answer to this mystery, and he can\u2019t get one. He only begins to trust when he no longer feels ignored, when he knows that God is taking him seriously and that he is \u201cpart of the conversation\u201d (see Job 42). When Jesus later <em>becomes<\/em> the answer in his own passion, death, and resurrection, he discovers what Job finally experienced: in the midst of suffering, God can be trusted. The world is still safe, coherent, and even blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are \u201csaved\u201d by being addressed and included in a cosmic conversation. We do not really need answers; we need only to be taken seriously as part of the \ndialogue. But we usually only know this in hindsight after the suffering and the struggle. It cannot be known beforehand, not theoretically or theologically. Our knowledge of God is participatory. God refuses to be intellectually \u201cthought,\u201d and is only known in the passion and pain of it all, when the issues become soul-sized and worthy of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus says, \u201cThere\u2019s only one sign I\u2019m going to give you: the sign of the prophet Jonah\u201d (see Luke 11:29, Matthew 12:39, 16:4). Sooner or later, life is going to lead us (as it did Jesus) into the belly of the beast, into a situation that we can\u2019t fix, can\u2019t control, and can\u2019t explain or understand. That\u2019s where transformation most easily happens. That\u2019s when we\u2019re uniquely in the hands of God. Right now, it seems the whole world \nis in the belly of the beast together. But we are also safely held in the loving hands of God, even if we do not yet fully realize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of us experience the absurd, the tragic, the nonsensical, the unjust, but we do not all experience pain in the same way, so try not to judge others too harshly for their reactions. We don\u2019t know what has brought them to this point. However, if we could see all our wounds as <em>the way through to their transformative effect<\/em>, as Jesus did, then they would become \u201csacred wounds\u201d and not something to deny, disguise, or export to others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The genius of Jesus\u2019 teaching is that he reveals that God uses tragedy, suffering, pain, betrayal, and death itself, not to wound or punish us, but to bring us to a Larger Identity: \n\u201cUnless the single grain of wheat loses its shell, it remains just a single grain\u201d (see John 12:24). The shell must first crack for the expanded growth to happen. In such a divine economy, everything can be transmuted, everything can be used, and nothing is wasted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gateway to Action & Contemplation:<\/strong><br>\n<em>What word or phrase resonates with or challenges me? What sensations do I notice in my body? What is mine to do?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prayer for Our Community:<\/strong><br>\n<em>O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other\u2019s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts\u2019 longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Universal Pattern Why Suffering? Tuesday, \u202fApril 14, 2020 Sooner or later, the heart of everybody\u2019s spiritual problem is \u201cWhat we do with our pain? Why is there evil? Why is there suffering?\u201d Job begs God for an answer to this mystery, and he can\u2019t get one. He only begins to trust when he no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18743,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742\/revisions\/18743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Sooner or later, the heart of everybody\u2019s spiritual problem is \u201cWhat we do with our pain? Why is there evil? Why is there suffering?\u201d Job begs God for an answer to this mystery, and he can\u2019t get one. He only begins to trust when he no longer feels ignored, when he knows that God is taking him seriously and that he is \u201cpart of the conversation\u201d (see Job 42). When Jesus later <em>becomes<\/em> the answer in his own passion, death, and resurrection, he discovers what Job finally experienced: in the midst of suffering, God can be trusted. The world is still safe, coherent, and even blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are \u201csaved\u201d by being addressed and included in a cosmic conversation. We do not really need answers; we need only to be taken seriously as part of the \ndialogue. But we usually only know this in hindsight after the suffering and the struggle. It cannot be known beforehand, not theoretically or theologically. Our knowledge of God is participatory. God refuses to be intellectually \u201cthought,\u201d and is only known in the passion and pain of it all, when the issues become soul-sized and worthy of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus says, \u201cThere\u2019s only one sign I\u2019m going to give you: the sign of the prophet Jonah\u201d (see Luke 11:29, Matthew 12:39, 16:4). Sooner or later, life is going to lead us (as it did Jesus) into the belly of the beast, into a situation that we can\u2019t fix, can\u2019t control, and can\u2019t explain or understand. That\u2019s where transformation most easily happens. That\u2019s when we\u2019re uniquely in the hands of God. Right now, it seems the whole world \nis in the belly of the beast together. But we are also safely held in the loving hands of God, even if we do not yet fully realize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of us experience the absurd, the tragic, the nonsensical, the unjust, but we do not all experience pain in the same way, so try not to judge others too harshly for their reactions. We don\u2019t know what has brought them to this point. However, if we could see all our wounds as <em>the way through to their transformative effect<\/em>, as Jesus did, then they would become \u201csacred wounds\u201d and not something to deny, disguise, or export to others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The genius of Jesus\u2019 teaching is that he reveals that God uses tragedy, suffering, pain, betrayal, and death itself, not to wound or punish us, but to bring us to a Larger Identity: \n\u201cUnless the single grain of wheat loses its shell, it remains just a single grain\u201d (see John 12:24). The shell must first crack for the expanded growth to happen. In such a divine economy, everything can be transmuted, everything can be used, and nothing is wasted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gateway to Action & Contemplation:<\/strong><br>\n<em>What word or phrase resonates with or challenges me? What sensations do I notice in my body? What is mine to do?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prayer for Our Community:<\/strong><br>\n<em>O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other\u2019s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts\u2019 longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Universal Pattern Why Suffering? Tuesday, \u202fApril 14, 2020 Sooner or later, the heart of everybody\u2019s spiritual problem is \u201cWhat we do with our pain? Why is there evil? Why is there suffering?\u201d Job begs God for an answer to this mystery, and he can\u2019t get one. He only begins to trust when he no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18743,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742\/revisions\/18743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}