SALVATION

Transforming Suffering
An Interview with Basil Pennington

By Mary Nurrie Stearns

PT: Love overcomes the suffering—whose love and the love of what?

Pennington: The persons suffering are less conscious of suffering because their concern is their love; they either want to suffer or are so concerned about something else that they don’t notice their suffering. The Buddhist idea is to get rid of all desire so you don’t notice the suffering. But love can be so great, going back to the parents who want to be with their child in the suffering, their love is so much with the child, that it would be more suffering for them not to be with the child in the suffering. The question is basically, "What do we want?" If we want to be free from all pain, if we want to be free from anything, and it is there, it begins to cause suffering.

PT: Buddhist precepts say it is our nature to suffer.

Pennington: Christians say suffering is an effect of sin. Because we are all sinners we all have suffering in our lives. Once we are able to completely overcome sin, we will no longer have suffering, or the effects of sin, which is in all our lives, because death itself is an effect of sin.

PT: How is death an effect of sin?

Pennington: The understanding of the Judeo Christian tradition is that God first created humans to live eternally, and because they rebelled against God in some way, part of the punishment was that in time they would die.

PT: For the sake of definition, what is sin?

Pennington: We understand sin as something that is contrary to the will of God, whether His will is expressed in explicit commandments, in the Revelation, or in the way God created things and meant them to function, what we call the Natural Law.

PT: Is there anyone who does not suffer?

Pennington: No, everyone has some suffering. Our Lord took on suffering voluntarily. The rest of us sinners suffer for our sins. We aim toward arriving at a state of complete union and communion with God. The result of that would be we would no longer suffer. In deep meditation we are completely free of suffering but we can’t abide in that beautiful state all the time.

PT: What is the best medicine for our suffering?

Pennington: In a way, suffering is a sickness and the best medicine for it is love, although love itself can cause suffering.

PT: Does love transform suffering, is suffering sloughed off?

Pennington: Suffering is caused by desire, so when we change our desires, what was originally suffering can become a sort of joy. When someone you love greatly suffers and you enter into their suffering, their suffering remains, but there is a deep joy in sharing suffering, and that solidarity may ease their suffering. In Christian thinking, we believe that Christ’s suffering is redemptive and, to the extent in which we can participate in Christ’s suffering, our suffering can become redemptive. In our love for our brothers and sisters we are happy to enter into redemptive suffering

A MEDITATION ON
Being in Love with Me   

That’s called “being in Love with Me.” You do your best to find time to just be with Me in the silence of your heart so that We can change your heart and your mind and ultimately, save your soul.  How distant is this from the religious perspective you’ve learned throughout life? My friend, there is My Commandment. “Love Me with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul.” That is all that you have to do daily.  Allow My Love to take over in you.  I will enable you to handle any and all problems that confront you in your life just by My Presence in you.  You can show this love for Me by coming to Me at Mass daily and receiving My True Presence physically.  In that way you allow Me the freedom to change your heart, your soul and your mind. That is the epitome of being in love with Me.

When you come to Me  accept the Love that I share in you gracefully. I touch you in My Way. I give you wonder and joy. I need not do another thing. Yet I do. I share words in you. I teach you openly about Love. I open your eyes to the Magnificence of Salvation. I reeducate your mind. I correct long held misconceptions that humanity has about Salvation.

Salvation is individual intimacy with Me internally experienced in the quiet of personal surrender to My Will in a person's life. I do not demand perfection as My Criteria for salvation. No human being can be perfect. I am. All I require is willingness to be open to My Love in whatever way I choose to share it. That requires an act of free will. That requires a decision to seek after more of Me daily.

I reward such free will choices with Touches of My Love internally. These touches lead My friends further down the road to Salvation. These simple exchanges of free will choices opens hearts more fully to Me. I uncover glimpses of salvation inherent in the fullness of Love that dwells in faith filled souls. Such glimpses make Salvation so real in each person that its existence is impossible to deny.

You come to Mass daily as your free will choice to honor Me. You receive My True Presence in the Eucharist. You know what you do. You accept the fullness of My Humanity and the fullness of My Divinity within you physically.

We become One physically, mentally and spiritually in Love. That is Salvation in Love, with Love and through Love. There is nothing more to say. Is there?

 Love,

 Jesus

Follow along one day at a time

Day Fifteen

Day Sixteen

Day Seventeen

Day Eighteen

Day Nineteen

Day Twenty

Day Twenty One

Week Four

Week One

Week Two

Each month I will present a book of meditations free
 for you to read.

Double click on

Book of the Month for this set of meditations.

I’ve started a newsletter page.

Double click on the Newsletter Page to read them.

Check Out Our Store.

There are Books of These Words.

They were written just for you.

Store

There are more Words of the Day on

Catholic New Evangelization net

Catholic New Evangelization com

 Click on these links if you wish to read more.

Who creates these sites?
Read

About Us

For visitors to the original Holy Spirit within Site you can link to these older sites on our links page.

Links

Return to Home to begin the reading for this month.

Check out our

 Links to Our Other Web sites