Suffering in Culture - Part 5

My wife organizes a weekly presentation at our Parish every Tuesday evening, called Spirituality Tuesday. This is a major excerpt from the presentation called Our Experience of Suffering in Culture and in Faith by Sherry Cassedy, which I found to be a beautifully written thought provoking explanation, and exceptionally relevant to our lives. Although my life’s story is different I am grateful to have been present at this presentation, because it so strongly represents my understanding of suffering. Some of it has been edited and some of it hasn’t, but this is her work alone.

Our instinct to say to ourselves, “There but for the grace of God go I”, is a separation from others; a holding apart from those who suffer, taking solace in our own good fortune. Our prayer should be, “There with the grace of God go I”, in communion; seeing others in our suffering and ourselves in their suffering. We are they and they are us, and we are in the Grace of God, in solidarity and communion, in compassion with suffering, and in comfort with strength. When we allow ourselves to feel our own suffering and we take it in and we move it to our heart, it can be transformed into compassion for the suffering of others; for universal suffering.

Surrender is God’s way for us to experience not being in control, as an invitation to faith. One thing that our experience of suffering does is to make it very clear that we are not in control. Some hold to life closely with clenched fists, trying to control destiny, but eventually having to accept the reality that control is not possible. Some respond by expressing more anxiety, trying to control more of the circumstances that surround them. Some respond with a deep surrender, relinquishing not only the belief that control is possible, but even the arrogance that it should be controllable. Jesus tells us, “Be not afraid”.

We need to move out of the house of fear and into the world of hope. This opens us to new life and new perspectives: “I empty myself to be filled by thee”. The spring equinox is the perfect balance between the dark and light, and the first day of spring represents renewal. Perhaps we can see that in our darkness there is a glimmer of light, and in the movement toward the light and toward renewal, we will be able to see the new life that before we could not imagine. We are all companions on this journey as we experience the singular yet universal encounter with suffering. The movements that turn our mourning into dancing are a journey of faith: A journey of movement, gratitude, compassion, surrender, and renewal. It is a journey in which you and I, in communion with those before us, with us, and after us, are not alone.