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Suffering with Us

May 6, 2009

- by Kyle Cupp

God doesn’t always get what he wants. I realized this truth a while ago when reflecting upon the idea that, while God wants us all to be saved, we can choose to reject his gifts of grace. I thought about this truth again recently, but in response to an event that can’t be traced to human freedom or decision. On the Wednesday of Holy Week, my wife and I learned that our daughter in the womb has a fatal condition known as anencephaly. Something caused this condition, of course, but we can only speculate within a range of known possibilities about what the causes may have been. When it comes to answering the question of why God allowed this condition to happen, we really have no range of possibilities in which to speculate. No one knows or has any clue.

I don’t envision God as watching us from a distance, but nor do I see him as a cosmic engineer tinkering with the world so that he gets what he wants. God doesn’t always get what he wants. He is present, though, in a way more important than preventing catastrophes or fixing breakdowns in the system. Ilia Delio writes, “Too often we want a God who will hear our cries, who will be strong enough to push our experiences away. It is not that God is deaf to the cry of the poor. It is rather that God himself weeps. God himself is poor. The poor one cries out to the poor God and the poor God answers, ‘I am here!’” Christ on the cross shows us that God humbly bends low to embrace us in love and to share our suffering. He humbly suffers with us. As my wife and I prepare for our daughter’s birth, baptism, and burial, this is the image of God to which I tightly hold.

Kyle Cupp is an independant contributor to MetroCatholic publications.  Kyle publishes the blog Journeys in Alterity, which features his thoughts on culture, hermeneutics, language, literature, moral dilemmas, personal life, philosophy, politics, postmodernism, and religion.

Posted by Kyle Cupp · Filed Under MC Blog, Pro-Life 

Comments

2 Responses to “Suffering with Us”

  1. George Vogt on May 6th, 2009 1:44 am

    Kyle, our love and prayers to you and your beautiful family.

  2. Megan on May 6th, 2009 8:22 am

    Many prayers here, as well….

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