Tag Archives: Suffering
Searching for Love
Love: Week 1 Searching for Love Friday, November 2, 2018 All Souls’ Day John of the Cross (1542-1591) is one of many Christian mystics who writes about being loved by God in an intimate way. My friend and fellow CAC faculty member James Finley reflects on John’s Dark Night of the Soul as a journey… Continue Reading Searching for Love
Suffering: Week 2 Summary
Suffering: Week 2 Summary: Sunday, October 21-Friday, October 26, 2018 The genius of Jesus’ ministry is that he reveals that God uses tragedy, suffering, pain, betrayal, and death itself (all of which are normally inevitable), not to punish us but, in fact, to bring us to God and to our True Self, which are frequently… Continue Reading Suffering: Week 2 Summary
Wounded Healers
Suffering: Week 2 Wounded Healers Friday, October 26, 2018 Only people who have suffered in some way can usually save anybody else—exactly as the Twelve-Step program illustrates. They alone have the space and the capacity for the other. Deep communion and compassion are formed much more by shared pain than by shared pleasure. Jesus told… Continue Reading Wounded Healers
Freedom from Fear
Suffering: Week 2 Freedom from Fear Thursday, October 25, 2018 Man suffers most through his fears of suffering. —Etty Hillesum [1] Over the next couple days, James Finley shares insights on suffering drawn from Jesus’ example and teaching. I would like to reflect on the role of Jesus as the one whose very presence is… Continue Reading Freedom from Fear
Invincible Preciousness
Suffering: Week 2 Invincible Preciousness Wednesday, October 24, 2018 My colleague James Finley is someone who incarnates the truth that the suffering we carry is our solidarity with the one, universal longing of all humanity, and thus it can teach us great compassion and patience with both ourselves and others. Here he shares the intimate… Continue Reading Invincible Preciousness
Traumatization of Spirituality
Suffering: Week 2 Traumatization of Spirituality Tuesday, October 23, 2018 James Finley, one of my fellow faculty members at the Center for Action and Contemplation, is a clinical psychologist. He speaks expertly—from a professional, personal, and mystical perspective—on suffering and healing. Here Jim explains how Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542–1591) allowed trauma to… Continue Reading Traumatization of Spirituality
Redemptive Suffering
Suffering: Week 2 Redemptive Suffering Monday, October 22, 2018 The “cross,” rightly understood, always reveals various kinds of resurrection. It’s as if God were holding up the crucifixion as a cosmic object lesson, saying: “I know this is what you’re experiencing. Don’t run from it. Learn from it, as I did. Hang there for a… Continue Reading Redemptive Suffering
Gazing upon the Mystery
Suffering: Week 2 Gazing upon the Mystery Sunday, October 21, 2018 The genius of Jesus’ ministry is that he reveals how God uses tragedy, suffering, pain, betrayal, and death itself (all of which are normally inevitable), not to punish us but, in fact, to bring us to God and to our True Self, which are… Continue Reading Gazing upon the Mystery
Suffering: Week 1 Summary
Suffering: Week 1 Summary: Sunday, October 14-Friday, October 19, 2018 My soul is sore when I learn how our people are tortured, when I learn how the rights of those created in the image of God are violated. —Óscar Romero (Sunday) For me, to be a Christian means to accept that battlefield, to accept and to… Continue Reading Suffering: Week 1 Summary
