Why do absolutely awful things happen to beautiful people?

I DON'T KNOW.


Do You?
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Job and his False Comforters1452-60IlluminationMueum Condé, Chantilly FOUQUET, Jean

What I do know is that the church must be there for those who suffer. Helping people build something worthwhile out of the ashes of their sorrows is indeed a high calling .

But as we stand in the presence of the mystery of suffering we can't allow ourselves to fall into the temptation to play the role of Job's Comforters because there truly are times when suffering has no earthly reason.

In those times God may be wagering the fate of the world on our faith as it is tested in the crucible of our suffering (remember Job). Perhaps He is depending on us to do what He can not do for Himself, namely be faithful when all seems lost and hopeless. If God is calling individuals to bear this responsibility, the church will be doing a great work if we uphold these people in the trials they are assigned. If we turn our backs on them in unjustified and self righteous condemnation or in a weakness of heart and stomach, it is we who deserve the rebuke.

To see the world's suffering is not easy or pleasant. To not see it is ignorance, and to see it, and do nothing about it..............THAT IS A SIN.

Dear little Swallow,' said the Prince, `you tell me marvelous things, but more marvelous than anything is the suffering of men and of women. There is no Mystery so great as Misery.'

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

Indeed there is no Mystery so great as Misery because for some unknown reason suffering is at the heart of meaning. Isn't that at least partly why we worship a humiliated, naked, beaten and bleeding man hung upon a cross.

Jesus' life and death is all that can give meaning to the world as we encounter it with our eyes and hearts wide open. That is why I am a Christian, an uneasy one but nonetheless a follower of Christ.