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{"id":1948,"date":"2011-02-24T09:09:25","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T14:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/?p=1948"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:47:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:47:38","slug":"quote-of-the-day-on-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/02\/quote-of-the-day-on-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Quote of the day: on suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cWhere would I be today without my crosses?<\/strong> What knowledge and wisdom would I lack without the challenges and difficulties that caused me to ask questions and passionately seek answers. When you suffer, platitudes aren\u2019t enough, slogans won\u2019t do. You have to go deeper, search for real answers and often learn that there are no simple answers. Suffering also unlocks an acceptance of paradox and an appreciation that all is not as it seems and some of God\u2019s greater gifts come in mighty strange packages. Suffering can also teach silence and waiting. Great wisdom is found in these virtues. Suffering bestows insight, trust and serene peace. Only after years of suffering could Joseph stand before his criminal brothers and say, \u201cYou meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.\u201d (Gen 50:20). Suffering does that, it teaches the deeper things, the harder things, the better things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Msgr. Charles Pope, writing here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"