Suffering and Death

[BarbTherese]

7 hours ago, Gabriela said:

Exactly. Which is something I've never understood about Jesus' suffering. I'm not denying it was bad. But he did know it was going to be over sooner rather than later. I should think that'd make it better.

That is how I most often deal with suffering : "all things pass" and past experience tells me that indeed they do.  For those suffering terminal illness it is different.  Death is at the end.  The great mystery of death.

But if I let my imagination recall the Passion and Death of Jesus and His knowing that at the end of all that shocking suffering, He would die and horribly - He would have witnessed Roman crucifixion in His lifetime and probably more than once.........and He was completely human and apparently right at the end without a straw to hang on to as it were.  I can't see where He could experience any sort of consolation nor comfort enduring what He did and knowing an agonizing death was at the end of it.  He was and is fully human.  The two most amazing statements He made on the cross for me were "My God! My God! Why have You abandoned me"............and finally "Into Your Hands I comment My Spirit"..........what an amazing act of Faith in desolation, complete desolation in every way including the spiritual.  He does not say "Into God's Hands I commend My Spirit" - but "into Your Hands"............an amazing act of Faith.  To know in Dark Faith that God is there and with one when one cannot feel it in any way whatsoever..........when one is convinced (more than just a feeling) one is abandoned.

Here is a Catholic Culture document and an expert (various fields) account of Roman Crucifixion.......not for weaker stomaches either.   Various Experts Reflect on The Physical Death of Jesus

It has some graphs as well.

Edited April 6, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

[Era Might]

Death frees us of all responsibility. Isn't that the dream of humanity, not to be human, but to be like the angels in heaven.

I'm afraid of death though. At least in suffering I can attach meaning, even if it's manufactured meaning. It's hard for me to conceive of the end of being human.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Era Might

[Not A Real Name]

I fear both death and suffering and deep down I think this is because of my conscience. For death it's the enormous amount of past sins and present failures which weigh heavily on my heart, which I think causes a fear inside me. A fear of seeing God and be rejected by Him. A fear that comes from viewing God as some bean counter who is going to give me the greatest audit in the history of audits when I die. I have to constantly remind myself that God sees me right now and is calling me to Himself and that He knows my heart and that He loves me, especially when sufferings come my way.   With suffering, it is the idea that it could be eternal that scares me the most, which then plays into the fear of death.  However, I view temporal suffering differently.  Temporal suffering, while I don't like it, I also don't view it as an evil thing.  On the contrary suffering can be a very beneficial thing, and when I truly think about it, I have a higher capacity for suffering than I do for comfort. 

[Gabriela]

Huh. This is all really interesting. Particularly how much everyone has thought on this and is aware of how they feel about these two things.

[NadaTeTurbe]

When I was little, I thought I was the only one asking myself question about death. Like, I would watch my friends having fun and thought "Don't you know you're going to die ? What do you think about it ? Do you care ?". It was really a big thing for me. Not death on itself, but if other people were aware of it. 

[Gabriela]

2 hours ago, NadaTeTurbe said:

When I was little, I thought I was the only one asking myself question about death. Like, I would watch my friends having fun and thought "Don't you know you're going to die ? What do you think about it ? Do you care ?". It was really a big thing for me. Not death on itself, but if other people were aware of it. 

This makes me smile, weirdly. I think because it shows you were the same kind of very serious kid I was.  

Being a serious kid is hard. There's so much pressure to be "fun" and frivolous.  

[BarbTherese]

I swing between extremes.

 Sometimes death would be a welcome relief. I wrote a short story long ago about the experience of mental illness - and a sufferer of serious MI who had suffered much and died of an accidental drug overdose:   "and death is such a strange Samaritan but available in all and every journey's end". 

Then at other times, I am telling Jesus how hard it is going to be to leave this beautiful earth - and death is like a dark cloud continually hovering threateningly over my life.

Other times, I can Peacefully and Joyfully leave the whole of life and it's ending in the Hands of God and His Will.  Having been through quite a bit in my journey to date, I have experienced that God grants one Grace at the time to endure the whatever. 

 The Grace of God supporting me is something my imagination cannot grasp (as consolation) nor reflect upon either about my past nor the potential for the future.  It is a Dark Faith matter - a trust matter in confidence residing in the will. When I was in religious life in my teens, my SD told me that God very often will not grant the Grace to deal with imaginary type situations, but He does without fail grant all necessary Graces at the actual time a situation comes to be and is in process.  Paraphrased.

[WhiteLily]

Just remember, death is only a comma. From there, we will see Jesus face-to-face and hopefully, heaven can be our period. My hope and prayer is that each person repents and seeks the Lord's mercy. That's why it's so important to pray for the dying, especially for people who die a sudden, unprovided death.

[PhuturePriest]

On 4/6/2016 at 4:53 PM, Gabriela said:

This makes me smile, weirdly. I think because it shows you were the same kind of very serious kid I was.  

Being a serious kid is hard. There's so much pressure to be "fun" and frivolous.  

When I was a kid I was pretty fun, but now that I'm older and realize how quickly life goes by, when I'm with a friend or relative I sometimes think morose thoughts like "Someday this will be a distant memory and this person will be dead."

I'm quite fun at parties.

But given the nature of this thread, I think you'll love this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjQwedC1WzI

 

[Gabriela]

8 hours ago, PhuturePriest said:

When I was a kid I was pretty fun, but now that I'm older and realize how quickly life goes by, when I'm with a friend or relative I sometimes think morose thoughts like "Someday this will be a distant memory and this person will be dead."

I'm quite fun at parties.

But given the nature of this thread, I think you'll love this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjQwedC1WzI

 

Huh. I wondered where Hank Green went to... He's so great.