The issue arises more acutely in the case of the suffering of children...

The suffering of children puzzles us more than the suffering of adults, because, When an adult suffers, it is easier to see the benefits that could be to bring suffering, provided that a person grows to the full measure of his Calling. But can a suffering child learn something truly valuable? patience and humility, courage and endurance, trusting obedience? To me I remember the child mentioned in the life of the French saint XIX century. This priest asked a nine-year-old boy how he could to endure a painful illness that eventually brought him to the grave. That answered, "Father, I have learned not to feel yesterday's suffering today, and not to foresee tomorrow." Very few adults are capable of this, for suffering is whether it is moral anguish, mental distress or physical pain — usually becomes unbearable, because at every moment we seem to be carrying and we are experiencing all the past moments of pain and suffering and at every moment we are waiting that it would be like this forever, that it would never end. And we are not able to to confront all past and future suffering, though in most cases could withstand a specific portion of the suffering of our body or our soul in moment.

This example speaks of a nine-year-old child. What about small children, not yet capable of reasoning in this way? Can suffering mean anything to them? of an immortal soul or is it sheer nonsense and cruelty? We are inclined to to think that our spiritual growth takes place through the medium of reason, conscious response, by mental growth. We imagine that our spiritual life consists of sublime thoughts and deep feelings that unfold in us. But not in this is spiritual life, not the life of the Spirit. This is that intermediate an area that belongs neither to the body nor to the spirit. I will explain my words Comparison. We baptize a child. What we expect – if we expect at all something? Why do we think it makes sense? Because we believe that, consciously or not, the living spirit, the living soul of the child is able to meet the face of the the face of the Living God. Independently of any psychological perception, of any intellectual or emotional response, the living soul meets the Living God, and the sacraments of the Church are addressed to this living soul, which in its knowledge of God does not depends neither on the intellect, nor on consciousness, nor on anything of the kind.

But in that case, it is true of everything that happens in the body or the child's soul even before he can be aware of what is happening on the intellectual level. Therefore, if a child is sick at the age when We cannot expect him to consciously understand what is happening when he is not yet able to learn what requires will, intellect, mature feelings, active faith, active acceptance, this does not mean that what happens to him in It does not lead anywhere, that it will not become a positive event, or a positive contribution to his eternal life. And this, I think, is especially important parents, adults, when there is no contact with the child, as in case of mentally underdeveloped children. There is a limit to communication in the word, but no limit to other forms of communication. In the end, the meeting of two people takes place beyond words, it takes place where God is. In the Orthodox Church, we We insist that a pregnant woman must confess, must straighten out her life, to take communion, to pray, because the connection that exists between it and is such that everything that happens to her happens to the child. When A child is born, we expect that parents pray over him. We baptize, We anoint and commune infants on the same basis that I spoke of above: because the Living God can meet His living creature at that depth, which is far beyond any possibilities of human communication. When The child is sick, without conscious receptivity, there is always the possibility of pray over this child, pray for him, hold him before God and commune him his sacraments of the Church. If the parents and people around such a child were more would have realized this if, instead of trying to break through the impassable wall, they plunged into the depths where we all meet in God, then a tangible mutual connection could arise — a connection that the child perceives and which would be the beginning of an eternal relationship.

This also applies to death. God is not the God of the dead, He is the God of the living (Mark 12:27), and if we live in God, there is intimacy between us. Often, when The child leaves this life, the parents experience double grief. On the one hand, side, the child died. No more physical presence, no direct physical communication. But in addition, in a strange way, we imagine that a child who dies as an infant will forever remain one, that he will remain out of conscious contact, because on earth he is mentally developed and could not communicate at the level of intelligence and the emotions that we Associate. But it is a living soul, living in the Living God and His power, and if only we could reach the depths of our own soul, our own spirit, we could Without fear of being sure: nothing can separate us. When does it come the fullness of times, the fulfillment of everything, we will not meet on the level of our psychological richness or squalor, we will meet – spirit with spirit and soul to soul; We should be aware of this even now, on earth. Our Relationships with those who have departed from this life, not in the past or in the future: they are in the present, in the fleeting moment of the present in which we we meet with eternity, that is, with God. Our connection with those who have left this life, in the present, it belongs precisely to the category of eternity, and not to time. Yes, indeed, there is no physical meeting, physical communication, but in any We do not communicate at this level. Even in our present state, when There are relations between us, they are conditioned not just by mutual understanding at the level of words, language, symbols. We understand each other, relationships exist, insofar as For we meet in silence, in the depths, soul to soul. In some meaning, true communication begins where all methods of communication are left in the Side. True mutual understanding is beyond words. When Suffers child, we must accept by an act of faith his ability to grow more and more into close intimacy with God, because he is a living soul, and we must be sure that what happens to him is not in vain. And when children pass away, we must remember that God is the God of the living.

With all this, touch and physical contact should not be underestimated. Almost all religious rites are performed through contact: laying on of hands, Blessing – so much is done physically, and we must be aware spiritual abilities, the receptivity of our body to the realm of the spirit. Without a body, we could not partake of the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, could not to partake of God. Through the body and through what it represents, is, we can have this union with Christ and God. In human Touch plays a tremendous role in relationships. So much compassion, love, tenderness can be conveyed by the touch of the hand, not by words and speeches, a — taking a person by the hand, putting your hand on his shoulder... This is even more so refers to sick children. Or rather, no, not only to children – because In a serious, serious illness, everyone becomes a child again. Touch so much can be conveyed, whether it is sacramental, sacred, or simply human (which is also sacred and sacramental), and this parents of sick children should be taught: where words are powerless, where there is no There is a mysterious way to convey the indescribable, that which impossible to express. Love, tenderness, compassion, but also faith and unshakable confidence – all this can be put into gestures and touches, in the way we treat the body.

We have to deal not only with a sick child, but also with those who are in the grief surrounds him. Instead of sinking into sadness, surrendering to it all-consuming and destructive power, they must know by faith that they are participating in the in the sacrament, in a situation where human power ends and imperiously enters Divine Power, building a kingdom in which every child (and we are all someone's children) participates in one way or another in the mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was born into this transitory world, to die and through His death to reveal to us indestructible eternal life.

In the Face of Suffering

In the Face of Suffering57

I'm going to talk about suffering now, but not from a philosophical point of view, not about its connection with evil, I will speak specifically about what to do when faced with suffering arises as a fact. In my statement, I will refer to the experience that I have accumulated over the years in a wide variety of situations when I constantly had to deal with the suffering of people, approach it with attention. I worked in hospitals, in peacetime and during war, about fourteen years. I had to face suffering during the war, not only doing field surgery, but also communicating with soldiers who suffering, then I had to deal with human suffering as a Priest. And, like each of us, I took away some experience of suffering from my own Life.

The first thing I would like to emphasize is to draw experiences, to draw conclusions from The suffering of other people is justified, but there is also some ambiguity. This is justified because if you are connected with people affection, friendship, if it means a lot to you that they stand shoulder to shoulder shoulder with you as comrades-in-arms if you are deeply moved by the fact that they have entrusted to you their body, their wholeness, their future, their life and death, then there is a level of mutual understanding between you: it is rooted in what is available to us Compassion. But compassion is not suffering, it does not mean that we bear the pain of others as well as the sufferer himself, on a par with him. Compassion means that We suffer with him, and this situation is more complicated. If you have your own The experience of suffering, your compassion is nourished by that experience, and yet suffering you know your neighbor by imagination, and not physically. On the other hand, compassion embraces not only physical pain, it also embraces moral suffering another person, the whole person, whose suffering is before you. So you'll see, that the experience I have gained from what I have observed is very imperfect, but I can also to draw some conclusions from what the suffering people said, from the testimonies of people who had the right to speak about their own suffering and about how to cope with it.

Let's dwell for a moment on this last point: how to look in the face Suffering. There is a difference: passively, timidly or indignantly endure suffering — or accept it. Not everyone who suffers accepts suffering, looking into his face. Very often we flee from suffering, and it pursues us, like the scourge of God. We can look him in the face not at the moment when gather courage and agree to take a sober look at things; it is possible, only if we have something to rely on, otherwise we are able to A moment to look into the face of suffering — and immediately we will be broken by fear, anxiety, awareness of the meaninglessness of what we endure. To face suffering face to face, you need to perceive life boldly and courageously. If we initially We believe that life should be easy, that suffering has no place in it, that The main thing is to live and get from life everything that it can give pleasantly, then It is very difficult to face suffering. We can show courage for a short time time, but are not able to make it their permanent life position. But if I live for something, if I am willing to die for something, if there are values greater than myself, things more significant to me than that what happens to me, I have support and I can face suffering.