The reason ‘Why people suffer’ (Faith, hope and war chaplains,
June 1), is sin. Not necessarily individual sin, but generic. Like Anthony
Pantlitz who accepts that PTSD made him ‘a better chaplain’, when we accept
suffering we become better people.
The key to accepting suffering, as Pantliz proves, is prayer. And although
‘yelling the 23rd Psalm’ is great when you’re scared, meditation works better.
In meditation we can keep company with the God who accepted 33 years of hardship
and a hideously painful death, and it works simply because we become like the
people we spend time with.
You might call it a virtuous circle. In this prayer of meditation we get to
know and fall in love with the God who suffered because he loves us. We learn how to
suffer and to pray because we love him. And suffering with prayer makes us more
like God.
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