On Suffering

If I have not been in pain, He has not relieved me.
If I have not been sad, He has not lifted my heart to heaven.
If I have not been reviled, He has not comforted me.
If I have not been abandoned, He has not come to me.
If I have not been broken, He has not healed me.
If I have not been lost, He has not shown me the way.
If I have not been in sin, He has not redeemed me.
If I have not been without a friend, He has not walked beside me.
If I have not mourned, He has not comforted me.
If I have not been betrayed, He has not restored me.
If I have not been in chains, He has not set me free.
If I have not wept, He has not dried my tears.
If I have not been in the depths of darkness, He has not brought me into the Light.
If I have not suffered, I have not known Him.

This was written by Dan Burke.

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Art for this post “On Suffering”: Las lágrimas de San Pedro (The Tears of Saint Peter), Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), unknown date, PD-US author’s life plus 100 years or less, Wikimedia Commons.