Suffering and the value of it for us!

There is a saying "I complained because I had no shoes and then I saw a man with no feet."  I have found in my almost 70 years that even when I feel I am in tune with God, an object lesson teaches me a lot - like recently I suffered (and still am suffering to an extent) an extremely painful injury - a strained or torn ligament in the knee - I was complaining because I could "only walk a block" and around the house and then, suddenly, I couldn't walk at all.  I immediately thought of a Stephen ministry care receiver whom I was visiting (and still visit over the phone when she has need)... she had a stroke and has a left leg which totally is paralyzed - I was patient with her but felt the electric wheelchair she refused to use, would solve all her problems... until the age of 73, she'd been super able... well when I suddenly couldn't stand up totally and was reliant on a scooter and dragging along on a walker and the few steps to the washroom was a long walk, I got a feel for what she might have been feeling and the scooter did NOT solve all my problems.  As if to punctuate that I was on the right path here, God inspired her to call me the day after I was injured and when I told her about my injury, she said, understandingly, "Oh I so know the feeling!" 

Brings to mind why God allows us to suffer - it softens up our hearts so we can be more empathetic of others and no matter how much we HAVE suffered, each trial brings us closer to having a merciful kind heart.

And why suffering in the long run although it hurts and unfortunately many of us (like me!) are not like the saints who asked for the cross, we can look back in retrospect and actually say that a horrible painful episode was really a blessing because it woke up our hearts in a way they would have never awakened without the episode.  As it says in the Bible...

Ezekiel 36:26: "And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart."


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SUE JOAN
Gswidemark@gmail.com
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Would eternal life work on earth?

The possibility of whether eternal life would work on earth, is an idea which has been pondered, probably for centuries.  It certainly has been tossed back and forth during my lifetime as can be observed in some of the movies, discussing the possibility.

Sickness and pain would have to be somehow deleted from life - an idea extremely attractive to a society which sees no benefit in suffering.

Assuming that, there is the movie, "Tuck Everlasting".  Tuck drinks from a spring in the forest and finds he does not age at all (aging also has to be removed from the equation).  He does retain his youth and strength, but watches all his loved ones live, get old and die.  The movie ends with him standing all alone.

In fact, loneliness is something humans feel would be a given, if we outlive those we love.  That even can be seen in the elderly who have outlived parents and kids - they are extremely lonely and loneliness can be more painful than physical pain.

Which brings in the question, is physical pain the worst thing we can suffer?  According to a Dr Oz show, the consensus of the audience (and it seems, Dr Oz as well) was that if the physical pain gets pronounced enough, it would be a logical solution to seek someone to help us end our lives.  A woman with a type of muscular dystrophy which has taken away her ability to walk and use her arms, was prominent in the show - she did not use a respirator so apparently could eat and breath well and also could move her head fairly well. She was depressed and wanted the right to have a physician help her end her life.   Interestingly enough however, when Dr Oz asked her if she would favor not being treated if she got pneumonia again allowing her to die, she evaded the question. (She has had pneumonia twice and has been treated).

Another man, who looked elderly and was much more disabled than the lady - he required a respirator - told the audience that he appreciates every day of life he has been given.

Interesting, are the movies, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (one made in the 1950's and one made in the 1970's).  Tonight I saw yet, another remake entitled "Invasion" released in 2007.  The story is that some type of invasion from Outer Space takes over humans and recreates them as devoid of emotions.  "There will be no more war or suffering," the protagonists are told.  In all of these movies, there are a couple of humans who fight against the takeover, preferring their flawed emotions to becoming a being who is incapable of human love.  The latest version has a happy ending. A vaccine is found and given as a sort of antidote to the cells taking over humanity and everyone is cured and life goes back to normal.  But the leading lady is shown in the last scene as wondering whether the world with war and sadness is really preferable.

In the second and third movie of this group ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers"), each human who is taken over, is shown going through a type of aging after which s/he wakes up with no emotions, no ability to love.  This seems to be asking the question - if eternal live exists, wouldn't we have to be changed?  Our human concept of the change necessary, is being given - what the psychiatrists calls a blunted affect, i.e. a deadening of the emotions and all we care about.

Utimately, there seems a consensus that an eternal life here on earth would not be nice.  The movie, "Cocoon" depicts elderly folks stumbling across aliens who have somehow achieved eternal life but in order to obtain this, these elderly must go with the aliens to their planet, far away from the earth.

The Christian concept of eternal life is not a lessened awareness but rather a heightened awareness.  Something we humans cannot picture.  And even if we do not understand how this will be achieved, we have the testimony of Jesus, still the only man who ever made such an impression on the earth that He literally stopped time (which we then, divided in "AD or "anno Domini" i.e. "after God" and BC i.e. "before Christ").  If we still have questions, the Bible tells us "eye has not seen, ear has not heard, of the glories which God has planned for those who love Him."

There is a lot of evidence, observational and logical that we should not try to force our premature death but instead should patiently wait for God to call us.  There is also a rather impressive body of evidence that when God calls He will "make all things well" , not by us ceasing to exist but rather by our living in a full beautiful manner, the likes of which we cannot concept here on earth.

And of course, Cardinal Dolan said it much better than I did! :)