Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

This is from the talk I prepared for Radio Maria in February 2017 as part of a 6 part series on Beauty. Week 3- Beauty and Suffering This week we are going to look at Beauty and Suffering. It might sound very strange to put these two things together, without sounding slightly sadistic. You hear a lot about happiness these days. You have to be happy 24/7. You have to only do the things you love. You have to wake up everyday and jump out of bed, because if not, you’re broken or you’re unhappy or not motivated. While I certainly wish that were the case, the fact of the matter is, it’s unrealistic. We can’t always be happy, we can’t always do the stuff we love, we can’t always wake up every day feeling like we can take on the world. While there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be happy, we all too often make that our main objective in life. And in our quest for bliss and contentment we fail to embrace the beauty of suffering, when we are faced with it. One of the l...

Why does God allow suffering to happen? Does God even care? If God is so good and holy, then why doesn't He put an end to all suffering and pain? Over the past few days, I have been very aware that some people suffer so much in silence and in surrender. I have seen how good people have been able to identify God’s footprints with them in the journey of death, bereavement, sickness and tragedy. There is so much suffering in our world and it extends from deeply personal and hidden domains through social patterns and global realities. In our ministry in our Liturgical Centre and day to day service with the people, we come to know people’s personal stories of sufferings. It’s the grandmother who comes to offer Mass for a stillborn child and through her tears seeks an answer ‘why?’. It’s the father who comes to the Chapel and kneels for hours, begging the Lord for a job so he can support his family. It’s the young man who searches for meaning to his life, when the voices of the most ...