HomeTeamFamily Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I was at a wedding recently where the father of the bride was delivering a toast/speech/statement/prayer at the reception and he made a comment that struck me as quite profound. He prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God acknowledging our weakness and thanking Him for not sending us greater difficulties to suffer through. He said that those that suffer more must be all the more strong in the Lord to endure the suffering. It made me think about the daily sufferings that I go through and how lucky I am to have those sufferings as opposed to greater, more dire needs. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 [quote name='HomeTeamFamily' timestamp='1325341690' post='2360577']He prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God acknowledging our weakness and thanking Him for not sending us greater difficulties to suffer through. He said that those that suffer more must be all the more strong in the Lord to endure the suffering.[/quote] I think this could be an incredibly trite response to anyone who has undergone tremendous, disastrous suffering. just my two cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tally Marx Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I would say that we should thank the Lord for sending us the chance the suffer *at all*, no matter how small, because it gives us the chance to join Christ on the Cross, earn graces, and avoid Purgatory. Everyone thanks God for the good things they have, and for sparing them hard straights, but it's rarer to thank Him for the "bad" things we've been through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicansoul Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I remember when I was in the convent, some of the girls were into thinking all sorts of purgations and sufferings to bring upon themselves. Mother one night told us she didn't want us asking for "extra" stuff, or sacrificing too harshly. She said, "life has a way of bringing upon us the worst kind of sufferings. Let us pray for the diligence to take what comes." I've never forgotten that. I am really bad at self-sacrifice, and this kind of brought me a little relief. But she was right. Life has brought me so much intense suffering. I think the way I see suffering is... God is allowing this to happen because He trusts me... He trust me that I'm not going to leave Him... He realizes as painful as life is, I'm still strong enuff in HIM to get through it, to live with it, to suffer unbearably, but, again, with HIM and not outside of Him... I had a dream one night, after going through some incredible emotional trauma.. my mother had just passed away, and I had walked away from my religious life... I felt I had absolutely nothing to live for... but in my dream, Jesus came by, carrying His cross... He beckoned me to come to him... when I got very close to Him, he put some of the weight of His cross on my shoulder, so I carried it with Him... Then He whispered.. "To suffer with bitterness, the cross is very heavy.... but to suffer with love and for love, your burden becomes light." At that moment, the heavy cross we were carrying seemed lighter than cardboard.... I finally understood what Jesus meant when he said "Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your soul will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light." Matthew 11:28-30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbTherese Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) I think all things are within The Divine Providence of God's Direct or Permissive Will - even when hair falls from our heads. This is a great mystery and it can bring very real interior suffering. I am always very much moved by the tremendous sufferings of others and by so many in our world. It is not only what they have or are going through, but it highlights my own sense of helplessness on the human level in the face of the suffering of others. In the face of tremendous suffering in another, I find my human place in the scheme of things very small, minute and helpless. It causes me to reflect on all that God has given to me and my very real obligation of stewardship of His Gifts, to really question my spirit of generosity and to pray for a selfless and generous spirit. I can pay my bills, put food on the table and have some finances left over - so many can't. I have quite good health especially physically, many don't. I have never had to face evil embodied in a human being and suffered terribly because of it - many do. Edited January 1, 2012 by BarbaraTherese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 For me, it's important not to focus on suffering. It can be a tool that God uses but if we are using a tool to repair something, we focus on the end result and not the tool. Sometimes the suffering itself seems to become almost an obsession and the person either ends up spending too much time thinking about present suffering or reminding themselves of past suffering. The secret for me is to experience it, deal with it and then move on from it, having accepted and learned from it as much as I can. I don't forget it, I just make sure my focus isn't always on it. If I find myself talking about my suffering a lot, then I know I need to step back and make my focus on God again and not myself. One of my weaknesses however is getting impatient with others who don't seem to be able to do this, and who seem to need to talk about their suffering a lot. This is a completely different lesson for me, but one that I am still trying to learn. We can't all move on at the same speed, so when I am beginning to get impatient with someone who is dwelling on their misery, I need to give myself a mental shake and ask myself how I would feel if I were still stuck in mine and wanted some attention and comforting. It isn't easy for me, but I think I am getting a little bit better at it (still a long way to go though). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice_nine Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I've found that Christianity is the only belief system that addresses suffering in a way that satisfies my mind and my heart. It's one of the distinguishing features methinks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeTeamFamily Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 @lil red: It wasn't so much a commentary on others as it was an acknowledgement of our own weakness and thanksgiving for the sufferings that we do have to endure; that they are not disproportionate to our ability to handle the suffering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 yeah...i guess i will just have to disagree with you. i still think it's an overly simplistic way of looking at suffering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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