Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 191.
Pain teaches a most counterintuitive thing—that we must go down before we even know what up is. Suffering of some sort seems to be the only thing strong enough to destabilize our arrogance and our ignorance. I would define suffering very simply as “whenever you are not in control.”
All healthy religion shows you what to do with your pain. If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.
If we cannot find a way to make our wounds into sacred wounds, we invariably become negative or bitter. If there isn’t some way to find some deeper meaning to our suffering, to find that God is somehow in it, and can even use it for good, we will normally close up and close down.
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3 comments:
I really hate not being in control. But I know that Rohr is right, that my arrogance and complacency can be shaken off by my suffering. The rules and guidelines provided by religion can give us a false sense that we might be able to remain in control if we just follow them, but they don’t always protect us from suffering and chaos. Then we find ourselves at the crossroads that Rohr describes. One way lies bitterness. But if we take the road that leads deep into the heart of our suffering, we are transformed by its cleansing flames.
Loving God, help me to transform my pain into a wound that I may use to heal others.
We make our wounds sacred wounds by listening to God and finding the lesson that is in the painful experience that will bring us closer to Him. I'm not suggesting that He gives us pain. I am, however stating that we can learn from our pain how to be closer to Him by surrendering our pain to Him over and over again. It is by surrendering that we begin anew and let go of the baggage from our old life, and in remembrance of Christ follow His Will.
A 12-Step program suggests that pain is inevitable, suffering optional. I was stunned at first even to consider such a possibility. Now I understand that my Higher Power uses all Her graces to lead me always to my next right step. I can embrace pain as a way of getting to the compassion that our world deserves, as God's creation. I can let go suffering, but wow, sometimes that's really hard.
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