Suffering: moving gracefully amid what would harm us

Today is "Holy Saturday"...or, as some like to say, "Silent Saturday." It's the time during Easter week when all is silent. Jesus has been crucified, laid in the tomb, and eternity stands still.

Of course, we know about Easter Sunday now. If we learn to walk 'in the moment' though, replaying the events somewhat 'as they were'... we realize it is not yet time for bonnets and lilies...

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I've not really been into Holy Week this year. At all. I can't seem to even muster an attempt. Instead, I've been quarantining at home during this COVID-19 pandemic. One of my new/old routines is reading first thing in the morning. I like this part of the change. And, in this way, it appears Holy Week may have snuck in without me being aware.

I am reading Henri Nouwen's 'Turn My Mourning Into Dancing.' I have this sneaking suspicion I have read this book before, and it would not surprise me, but it certainly doesn't hurt to read it again.

SUFFERING...

I believe it is still in the introduction (around "location 200"), and Nouwen is still setting up the premise of the book. He begins talking of the need to embrace our suffering, rather than try to evade it.

This is not an easy thing for me grasp. I mean, who wants to suffer?! Yet it makes great sense - now that I've read beyond.

He says...

"By greeting life's pains with something other than denial we may find something unexpected..."

Many of us are tempted to think that if we suffer, the only important thing is to be relieved of our pain. We want to flee it at all costs. But when we learn to move through suffering, rather than avoid it, then we greet it differently. We become willing to let it teach us. We even begin to see how God can use it for some larger end. Suffering becomes something other than a nuisance or curse to be evaded at all costs, but a way into deeper fulfillment. Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.

This is not easy, of course. The dance will not usually involve steps that require no effort. We may need to practice..."

Practice suffering? Oh, sure. Why not? That's what everyone wants to do, right?

Of course the answer is no. We need not go searching for suffering. But we will all experience plenty of it nonetheless. The rest of the book, then, is how to move graciously amid what would (and possibly has) harm[ed] us, and learn to dance in joy with our Love.

SO...

The point here - whether in the midst of suffering, or merely on silent Saturday - is to pause. Take note of what is happening. Don't try to rush ahead, don't attempt to dismiss it as meaningless or something we must "get over." Simply stop.

Stop.

Just be still for a moment.



DO YOU TRUST GOD?

DO YOU BELIEVE GOD CAN TEACH YOU SOMETHING?

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN BE SAVED... even still?

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I was reminded today (on Facebook, of course), of something Father Richard Rohr said.

"A 'liminal space' is the crucial in-between time when everything actually happens and yet nothing appears to be happening... A sacred pause precedes the New Presence... The tomb becomes the womb today, waiting for rebirth."

This is a challenge for me. Not necessarily the pause even, but maybe more the idea that God is always at work, even when I don't think anything is happening. Perhaps even in my suffering... God is there, doing what only He can do...

Peace out, my friends; and in. Happy waiting.

{painting: Liminality by Carolyn M. Abrams Art}