Grimly Optimistic

St Denis, by Awanqi Propers: The Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost ( Lectionary 29 ), AD 2024 B Homily: Lord, we pray for the preacher, for You know his sins are great. Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Why do we suffer? This is a question with which all religions wrestle; indeed, all of humankind. We don’t wonder so much about happiness or gratitude or joy. These seem to us natural, healthy, life in its fullness. Yet when we suffer, we want to know why. We have to know why. There must be a meaning to it, a purpose, a value, a lesson. Wonder of wonders, the world presents itself to us as intelligible, as something that humans can explore and understand. What then is the purpose of our pain, the meaning of our misery? It can be useful information, certainly: don’t touch a hot stove, don’t poke an open wound. But suffering is more than mere survival, is it not? It’s a state of being, an existential crisis. For the old pa