we all carry pain

Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate. But if you do instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge-from which new sorrows will be born for others-then sorrow will never cease in this world. And if you have given sorrow the space it demands, then you may truly say: life is beautiful and so rich.

Etty Hillesum – An Interrupted Life

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We all carry pain and sorrow.

 

It is part of the human condition.

It lingers in our souls, a sort of yeast transforming the whole.

 

It is there whether we accept its presence or not

 

Sometimes we attempt feebly to deny its presence,

But we cannot will it away, any more than we can

get rid of cancer with wishful thinking.

 

What do we do with this shadowy presence?

 

There are those moments when pain turns to suffering,

when it takes on the dimension of intensity

 

Suffering is what happens when we assume our pain is unique,

that we are alone in our tragedy.

Suffering is what happens when we are alone in our pain,

carrying it all as a personal burden, our cross to bear.

Suffering is what happens when we see our pain as an indictment,

something we deserve, something we have earned.

 

And suffering bears many fruits.

Perhaps anger.

Perhaps resentment.

Perhaps violence, against self or others.

Perhaps despair.

 

Suffering creates suffering

Pain piled upon pain.

 

But pain is transformed when it is

acknowledged and shared

 

When we make room for our pain and sorrow

when we shelter it and give it a home,

we can offer it hospitality

welcome it as a friend that needs compassion

 

And in welcoming it, carry it differently

It is still pain, but it is woven together

with all the beauties we carry within us.

 

With joy, and hope

And yes, love

 

And when we share our pain,

with God and others,

something profound happens.

 

As we allow others, including God, to enter into our pain.

And as we enter in the pain of others.

 

When there is only one sorrow.

When we are all in this together, and our pain

collectively is carried by the Sacred

(as symbolized by Jesus on the cross).

 

Our pain, instead of dividing, unites.

Instead of creating hate, increases love.

Instead of destroying us, creates newness.

 

Call it what you will.

I call it resurrection.