January 17, 2005

• Tragedy and suffering (The devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004)

God rejoices as you rejoice in the opportunity to live, experience, share with each other. We see your souls clearly. We know your needs. We know all for which you pray, whether directed inward toward the self or outward toward the life around you, about which you are so aware.

Your sharing together was indeed about what it means to experience human life. This sharing was not only about the experience, but about its meaning, its impact upon each of you. Your lives grow. They take on character and depth and love through your experiences. When you experience pain you are attuned, as it were, to others who know pain, just as when you experience love from others, you know the meaning of being loving. Human life is filled with the kind of challenges of spirit that you shared this evening. These challenges, these matters of the body, carry with them the potential for the spirit. The spirit does not evolve through emptiness. Spirit evolves through commitment, through action, through difficulty, through rejoicing, through frustrations, through fear, but most of all spirit thrives through love.

How do you feel love in the midst of suffering, your own or suffering across the globe? One experiences the reality of love through the response of others. It is from that response that you learn to be loving. It is that capability to love, the action of being loving, that is the nourishment of the spirit. You are therefore all becoming more profound in your spiritual development for you are becoming more aware of what it means to be open—open to expressions of love, open to receiving love.

When you experience at a distance the magnitude of a tsunami—what this means to people in many lands, what it means to families and individuals—you begin to recognize that through this experience you’re encountering expressions of love. The tsunami claimed many bodies but not one soul. There was in truth no loss of life in what is eternal. No Life with a capital L has been lost. On the contrary, life in the manifestation through love has multiplied many-fold.

The response from the international community, from governments and individuals is great evidence of the feeling of connection to the world beyond one’s own community. One cannot conceive of the physical loss of body, of belongings, of immediate relationships without growing in compassion, without acknowledging the oneness that is human life. The fact is, all who know of this event, care. All who know of this event feel a loss at some level. For some, it is a profound loss because of personal relationships. For others, it is a deep sense of loss because of the enormous suffering. There are other measurements of loss, but all share at some level a connection with that event.

It is at times like these that one is forced to examine the benevolence and omnipotence of God. Many acknowledge a sense of question: if God is benevolent and omnipotent, how could God be a part of such tragedy? You must always remember that it is not God’s will that there be suffering, but it is a part of God’s plan that through suffering there is always growth, there is always renewal, there is always transformation. An individual is never the same after enduring suffering of whatever magnitude. All people are deeper in their sensitivity. Yes, there can be bitterness. Yes, there can be great agony. But deep within, the spiritual fire burns brilliantly. There is a change. That change within is always a positive change.

You see God through the reactions of others to suffering. You see God through the reactions of individuals who are suffering. You see God in your own reaction to the suffering of others. You see God in your reaction to your own suffering. Within the event, God’s presence is undeniable. This growth, this deepening, is evidence of God’s loving presence.

Natural tragedies are always a source of great pain, are always cause for sadness. That is natural. But it is, within the event, an undeniable fact that potential for great growth, for the expression of love, is strengthened. Because God is, in essence, love. Because God is the source of love. Because God is the power of love. Because God is the energy of love. God is therefore a part of all that is. It is not necessary that God intend something to happen for God’s presence to be given evidence. God does not intend for human beings to suffer, but it is God that gives the light and the sustenance so that the energy of love is increased.

An individual who loses an entire family has lost human contacts that are most meaningful. But at the same time, that individual receives great love and support from those who care, and it is through that great love that such individual learns the meaning of love. You cannot learn the meaning of compassion unless someone has been compassionate toward you. For someone to give compassionately to you, there must be need. That need is never created when all is going as one would hope. The compassion comes when an individual is in need. Love expands, but love feeds on the need for being loved.

It is in being loved that you become loving, and it is in the act of loving that you are nurtured and you reflect most clearly God’s presence. It is in being loving that God’s presence is magnified, is given strength. God’s presence is given meaning. That presence is never empty. There is a reason, there is a recipient, there is a strengthening, there is a supporting, there is an affirmation that is selfless in its giving.

What does it mean to live a life without being loving? What does one contribute beyond the self, beyond being loving? You live life to love, and therefore you live life to be loved. You live life to find ways of reflecting lovingness in one activity or another.

The tragedies that surround human life worldwide provide such magnificent opportunity to transform your own lives from being loved to being loving. The transformation is undeniable, it is strong, it is compassionate, it is intense, it is committed, it is powerful, and it is very gentle. You love in strength, you love in tenderness. You love in action, you love in prayer. You love in fear, you love in hope. You find love in pain, you give love through faith.

The suffering, the anxieties, the challenges to health that you experience personally, while always difficult, at the same time always provide for a greater awareness of God’s presence. It is not just the concept that we speak of. Your lives are blessed beyond your imagination. When you are ill, you are deeply blessed. You are not forgotten. You do not lose value. The lights of your souls do not flicker away. They are strong and they are ready to be receptive to love that is offered. It is a magnificent opportunity all humans have to learn both about the need for love and the capacity to be loving. You are all given opportunities to receive the help of others, and you are given opportunities, in turn, to offer your help. It is this give and take between receiving and giving love that places your souls in a position of growth, of nurturing, strengthening, brightening, warming.

Life indeed is to be lived and it is to be welcomed in all of its facets, for everything that life offers, whether positive or negative, carries with it the potential for greater love, for a godly life, for relationships to others that express your highest calling in this human life. Be of good faith that your lives are proceeding in the best possible fashion. Have faith that you are given the strength, the wisdom, the love to endure, to flourish, and to prevail. Know that your lives are like flowers that continue to open and expand, allowing the brilliant light and love of God to enter within, provide strength and beauty and meaning.

You are blessed in your life as all are so blessed. Proceed with your lives with confidence, with humility, with compassion, and with commitment to the openness of all souls to God’s presence.

Amen.