TO BE MADE NEW

A child like Mary Ann, she observed, is obviously grotesque, and in the modern world such a child is thought to ‘discredit the goodness of God.’ ….The modern unbeliever prides himself on his realism, his willingness to recognize suffering and to ponder the problems of evil directly. But in O’Conner’s estimation such an outlook is not realistic; it is naive, sentimental, and even dangerous. It is the believer, not the unbeliever, who is the realist. In a child like Mary Ann the believer sees the likeness of every human person-deformed, limited, imperfect. In human deformity the believer sees ‘the raw material of good.’ In human suffering the believer sees the grounds of our common humanity, recognizing that it is through suffering, above all, that human beings are stirred to the love of one another, and to the love of God, who showed his love for humanity through his willingness to suffer as one of us. - Paul Elie in speaking about the work and person of Flannery O'Conner

A man is born into this world with only a tiny spark of goodness in him. The spark is God, it is the soul; the rest is ugliness and evil, a shell. The spark must be guarded like a treasure, it must be nurtured, it must be fanned into flame. It must learn to seek out other sparks, it must dominate the shell. Anything can be a shell, indifference, laziness, brutality, and genius. Yes even a great mind can be a shell and choke the spark.
The Master of the Universe blessed me with a brilliant son. And he cursed me with all the problems of raising him…. When he was four years old, I saw him reading a story from a book. And I was frightened. He did not read the story, he swallowed it, as one swallows food or water. There was no soul in my four-year-old son, there was only his mind. He was a mind in a body without a soul. It was a story about a man who suffered much. And my son enjoyed the story, because when he finished it he realized for the first time what a memory he had. He looked at me proudly and told me back the story from memory, and I cried inside my heart. I went away and cried to the Master of the Universe, ‘what have you done to me? A mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!’

I hope for him to learn how much suffering there is in this world. It will redeem his soul. I taught him with silence. The heart speaks through silence. One learns of the pain of others by suffering one’s own pain, by turning inside oneself, by finding one’s own soul. And it is important to know of pain. It destroys our self-pride, our arrogance, our indifference toward others. It makes us aware of how frail and tiny we are and of how much we must depend upon the Master of the Universe. A leader especially must know of pain. He must know how to suffer for his people. He must carry their pain on his own shoulders. He must carry it always. He must grow old before his years. He must cry in his heart. Even when he dances and sings, he must cry for the sufferings of his people.
How does one learn to want to take on another person’s suffering?
-Chiam Potok

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. - Hebrews 2:10