I know those of you reading this might be thinking, "I wish she would finish this chaplaincy thing so we can stop talking about pain, suffering, trials, etc.", but that is where I am and this is quite cathartic. All told I have 3 more duty shifts and 3 more weeks of clinical hours, one duty shift tonight and 2 next week (not sure how I am going to survive that!). I wanted to share a reflection on suffereing that was shared with me. It is by Carlo Carretto and it is called "Why, O Lord?" Carretto was born in 1910 in northern Italy and was a key figure in Catholic Action, a group organized to mobilize the laity to action in advancing the religious and social message of the church. Later he joined the Little Brothers a group of contemplatives in the desert. Carretto has been likened to St. Francis of Assisi and his message on suffering is poignant.
This is one part of the mystery of suffering:
God permitsit.
God wounds me.
God destroys my harvests.
God rages in the storm.
God leads me to my death.
But precisely in wounding me (God) draws out the best in me.
If I were not woulded--how unbearable I should be in my fiendish security! How sure of myself!
Wounded, I remain calm and learn to weep. Weeping I learn to understand others, I learn the blessedness of poverty.
This is a fact.
If human beings had no pain, were never pushed to the limits of endurance, how hard it would be for them to enter the road to salvation!
If the Israelites had enjoyed freedom in Egypt, Moses could never have persuaded them to attempt the march of liberation.
If the desert had been full of beguiling oases instead of snakes, hunger and thirst, they would never have reached the Promised Land.
No spur can move us towards tomorrow more effectively than suffering.
"Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:3
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