Let’s ponder the mystery of suffering:
In the making of bread and wine, living plants are cut down and destroyed, vines are ransacked, grains and grapes are crushed and ground …
a violent process in order to sustain life, nourishment and community.
And so for the created world, all us creatures, “nature red in tooth and claw”, deaths and births, being broken, crushed, and poured out, for another.
…
He waka eke noa.
We are all in the same boat.
….
Where do I go with suffering? Where am I complicit with violence?
Where do I currently see, experience, or hear about pain and distress? How do I hold the reality, the paradox of beauty and ashes?
a thrush egg fallen from a nest
…
Jesus of Nazareth
The cross was a torture.
It only gives life
Because you made it hollow.
Bring life to us, Jesus
Especially when we
Are in the places of the dead
Because you brought life
Even to the instruments of death. AMEN
: Padraig O Tuama, Daily Prayers (2017)
…
Today, come alongside creatures: invite the Holy One to come with you and draw your attention to a particular invertebrate, a bird, a sheep, a mollusc, a human being . . simply gaze.
No sketch pad, no journal, no device, no talking, no hurry,… simply be. Be with the focus of your gaze. . . attend, acknowledge the suffering.