Suffering and love

Some quotes from Jung Young Lee in his The Trinity In Asian Perspective. I found them pretty profound. Maybe you will, too.

And after the quotes, some thoughts of mine. Granted, not as profound. But.. personal, at least.

"Suffering and love are inseparably connected and empathetically united together. Vicarious suffering is possible only in a loving relationship. In every form of loving relationship there must be the potentiality of suffering.

"Because love contains the potential for suffering, we risk suffering when we love. That is why people who are afraid of suffering cannot love. The potentiality for suffering increases in proportion to the intensity of a loving relationship. The more we love, the more we may expect to suffer.

"If God really loved the world so much that the Son was sent to suffer on the cross, God must have suffered much even before the Son was sent. In other words, there was a cross in the heart of God before there was a cross on the hill of Calvary.

"God's heart was wounded because of the world of sin and evil. The cross is the symbol of the wounded love that heals the wounds of the world. In the cross, both the wounded heart of God and the wound of humanity meet and heal each other.

"In the fellowship of suffering, true redemption takes place. In this fellowship, human suffering is overcome by divine suffering, and the divine wound is healed through human healing.

"The fellowship of human suffering and divine suffering is expressed by the idea of 'carrying the death of Christ.' (2 Cor. 4:8-10) The mark of the Christian is to bear the cross, that is to participate in the suffering of God.

"By our participation in God's suffering, we find meaning in suffering. We can endure suffering if we see meaning in it. Suffering that has meaning is bearable."



Yes. That is right. I can bear it if my suffering has a higher purpose, beyond just being "my lot in life", or worse.. my fault.

If I'm going to suffer, at least let it mean something. Let it be for some good reason, some worthy cause. At least let it be that as a result of my suffering, someone else will benefit. If someone will gain, if some good will come...

then -

I can bear it.