(P)The...
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(P)
The husksters on television and in other forms of media shout at us or cajole us into believing the end of life is comfort and freedom from pain. Just about the worst thing that could happen to us is to suffer. The onslaught of services and commodities has reached ridiculous proportions.
Yet, suffering was the way our Blessed Lord made salvation authentic and eternally worthwhile. It was the means to completion of the faith. No one could brilliantly philosophize and expertly theologize to the extent Christianity might be an ongoing and abiding presence filled with hope. Suffering was the necessary instrument in the person of Jesus the Christ; indeed, the tearing of his flesh and the spilling of his blood were mandatory.
The preparation for a new and promising year accepts suffering not as a curse and the most terrible event in life. Christ's own example gives us the pervasive optimism to move forward with and for him.
-- Lacy
The husksters on television and in other forms of media shout at us or cajole us into believing the end of life is comfort and freedom from pain. Just about the worst thing that could happen to us is to suffer. The onslaught of services and commodities has reached ridiculous proportions.
Yet, suffering was the way our Blessed Lord made salvation authentic and eternally worthwhile. It was the means to completion of the faith. No one could brilliantly philosophize and expertly theologize to the extent Christianity might be an ongoing and abiding presence filled with hope. Suffering was the necessary instrument in the person of Jesus the Christ; indeed, the tearing of his flesh and the spilling of his blood were mandatory.
The preparation for a new and promising year accepts suffering not as a curse and the most terrible event in life. Christ's own example gives us the pervasive optimism to move forward with and for him.
-- Lacy
