INTERPRETING PROVIDENCE
I had occasion a few months back to sit at table with a brother who serves the terminally ill as a hospital chaplain. Tough duty, indeed. Day after day he is called upon to face patients and families whose lives have been disastrously invaded by “the big C.” What all of us do some of the time, he does most of the time. I was intrigued and impressed by one point that came up early in our conversation. He said that most cancer victims who have any faith at all will try to see their suffering as part of the larger plan of God. He spends considerable energy trying to move them from such a theologically untenable position. He tries to tell them that they are ill because they are part of the planet, not because they are part of a plan! There is more here than a clever play on words. Much that befalls us, whether of good or ill, is…
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