The discussion of marriage continues

The discussion of marriage continues March 28, 2014

With this from Calah Alexander, who takes a discussion about infidelity and the sacrament of marriage, and turns it into a beautiful meditation on suffering, well-punctuated with quotes from Papa Benedict’s “Spes Salvi.”

“Maybe once I’m good and pruned I’ll be able to be joyful and loving, and faithful. But right now, I have to walk the road under my own feet. That road starts with understanding that God’s ultimate goal is for me is not to be happy, not in this life at least. He wants me to be good. My inclination to be something other than good runs deep, so for me, this means that my life will likely be painful and full of trials. I hope I get better as time goes by and learn to put myself and my desires away more easily. But even if I don’t, the only thing I know for certain is that God will not abandon me in my effort to move closer to Him.

…Sometimes it’s true that our suffering is brought on by our own sin. But not always. We do each other a disservice when we assume that suffering, in whatever form it takes, is a deserved consequence. We do ourselves a disservice when we assume that we can avoid the same fate through our own virtue.
The body of Christ does not exist so that one part can teach the rest how to avoid suffering. The hand cannot tell the knee, whose job it is to run, that it would not feel so much pain if only it would stop running. The hand can rub the knee and bring some consolation, though, even if only for a moment.”


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