Love and Suffering
“In Christ’s teaching, suffering is not abolished – it is communed. The Bread we eat is a communion in the broken Body of Christ. The Cup we drink is a communion in the shed Blood of Christ. It seems clear that without the Crucifixion, there is no communion. Suffering is never described as a good. However, as communion it is a (the) nexus of love.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“Although it is not easy to remember when we are suffering, St Paul reminds us that not even persecution, pain, death or defeat can separate us from Christ’s love for us. So, though we naturally fear suffering and pain, we should never imagine that these things can separate us from Christ’s love. We cry out in lamentation when things go wrong, and we cry in pain when we suffer, but none of these things mean we have been separated from Christ’s love. Pain and grief may overwhelm our emotional lives, but Christ’s love is still there just like the sun is still shining even when our view of it is blocked by the storm clouds. We can only see the darkness of the storm and hear the booming thunder, but beyond that – beyond our vision – the Sun still shines brightly and undisturbed by the storm which is so close to us.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“Because our proclamation of God must be truthful, loving, and beautiful, it must never implicate God in the untruthfulness, hatefulness, and ugliness of evil. It must never attribute evil to the intention of God. As we see in the miracles of Jesus, God is against suffering. In the person of Jesus, He has assaulted it. Whenever we see Jesus and suffering together, we see Him undoing it. We therefore have no warrant for saying that suffering is ever divinely desired or intended. Theologically, that impugns the goodness and love of God. Pastorally, that makes God a suffering or grieving person’s enemy. Psychologically, it forces us to twist our minds into accepting that bad is actually good.” (Sarah Clarkson)
“We do not know the mind of God concerning suffering, but we do know His heart. We know it most of all in the Suffering of the Crucified Christ for us. God is wholly unknowable in His essence, but His heart is revealed in the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Whatever may come, we have faith in Christ, who has shown us that "God is love" (1 John 4:7). That is our hope, comfort, and peace in the struggles of this age.” (Fr. Basil)
“ [Love of Christ] is the only true love; all other loves are true only if they are derived from it and insofar as they are like it. Our love of Christ is the natural answer to Christ’s love of man. Not one single type of love on earth is so completely justified and deserved as our love towards Christ.” (St. Justin Popovich)
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