Category: Healing

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Job – the Problem of Suffering and the Problem of God.

tree segments showing damage in the rings Copyright p tyers

Janet has written about how reflecting on the book of Job helped her come to terms with grief. We invite our readers to write reflections on topics that join prayer and life. We would also like to hear about your groups. We hope to publish the next blog at Easter. Philip Tyers, Editor

The photo shows suffering endured by a tree over many years,  invisible to outsiders.  

Janet writes:

Many years ago, as a family, we suffered a grievous loss. It was a body blow of the most radical kind, a happening which severely questions belief. I do not think that I asked, “Why did this happen to me?” Suffering happens to most if not all people at some time in their lives. It caused me to ask questions about the roots of suffering.  

Fortunately, I came across a book, which provided some answers. Harold Kushner was a rabbi. He had suffered the death of a son. His son was born with an incurable and rare disease. The son died when he was fourteen. Kushner, inevitably, had mused upon this death, had asked questions of God. It was his chapter on the book of Job that helped me most. Kushner made three statements: 

  1. God is all- powerful and causes everything that happens in this world. Nothing happens without him willing it. 
  1. God is just and fair, and stands for people getting what they deserve, so that the good prosper and the wicked perish. 
  1. Job is a good person. 

He postulated that we cannot make sense of all these statements. We must sacrifice one in order to believe in the other two. His answer, which has become mine, is that God is not all-powerful. There are things which God cannot control. When disasters of any kind occur, we should not regard them as “acts of God” but turn to God to help us to live through them. God does this in many profound ways. That is a simplistic and inadequate comment on this wise book, but it helped me, as it has helped others for many years.  

This returned me to the Book of Job itself. It has been called the “most wonderful poem of any age and language; our first, oldest statement of the never ending problem – man’s destiny and God’s way with him in this world” (Thomas Carlyle). The saga of Job’s suffering, the arguments of his friends and the magisterial arguments of God need to be read repeatedly.  

Recently, I came across Andy Roland’s ‘The Book of Job.’ The author has abbreviated the text and arranged it for private reading, for group study and for public performance. The concluding chapter discusses the meaning of Job as the author finds it. He suggests, as does Kushner, that it not only discusses the problem of suffering but also the problem of God.  

A reading of all three books requires deep and searching thought and helps us to  

  • “Forgive the world for not being perfect,  
  • Forgive God for not making a perfect world,  
  • Reach out to the people around us  
  • Go on living despite it all” (Kushner). 

REFERENCES: 

Harold Kushner: When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Pan Books; 1st published 1981, and again with new introduction 2002. ISBN 9780330490559 Also available on Kindle.

Author unknown: The Book of Job – The Bible. 

Andy Roland: The Book of Job. Filament publishing. 2019 ISBN 9781913192501  Also available on Kindle.

Photo © Philip Tyers 2026

 Text ©Janet Robinson 2026. 

Editor: Philip Tyers

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All Saints and All Souls, Reflecting on Loss and Grief.

Nothing is Lost

When my friend was in the final stages of dementia and both speech and cognition were lost, I wondered what it must be like to lose control of one’s mind. Was it like a deep state of meditation where one is beyond thought? Where do all the memories go, all the relationships and experiences of a lifetime? I found these deeply comforting and appropriate words in a book by John O’ Donohue, where he wrote this blessing following a chapter on the subject of absence in all its forms:

May you know that absence is alive with hidden presence, that nothing is ever lost or forgotten.                                                          

May the absences in your life grow full of eternal echo.                  

May you sense around you the secret Elsewhere where the presences that have left you dwell.                                                      

May you be generous in your embrace of loss.                                  

May the sore well of grief turn into a seamless flow of presence.                                       

May you be embraced by God in whom dawn and twilight are one.

May your longing inhabit its dreams within the Great Belonging.

As I meditate on these words it reminds me that when I come to God in stillness and silence, all my experiences of life, love and loss are always present in the vast, eternal Presence which holds all of creation, beyond time and space, in peaceful and loving embrace. Nothing is ever lost, I am never alone, and there is nothing to fear.

From:         ‘Walking in wonder’ John O’Donohue

photo and text © K Marsh

All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, is observed by Christians from the eve 31st October and November 1st in honour of all the saints of the Church.

All Souls’ Day, also called The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, is a day of prayer and remembrance for all the faithful departed. Observed by Christians on 2 November.

Allhallowtide includes the three days from October 31st to November 3rd inclusive,

NB Dates can vary depending on the tradition of the particular Church. This is in accordance with the Western Christian tradition.

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Healed by Love Daniel Chowning OCD. Review

Daniel Chowning: Healed by Love: Contemplation as a path of healing according to St John of the Cross

Liturgical press 2025

Blackwells £18.99. Amazon Kindle £16                                   ISBN: 9798400800122, 0012244
            eISBN: 9798400800139, E00139

The title of this book engaged my interest since, while a beginner in accessing the work of St John of the Cross, I have found the foothills of his work inspiring.

Written by a fellow Carmelite who has immersed himself in St John’s life and writings it offers a deep reflection on the healing power of contemplation to be found in his work. My review only touches the surface of the work as I will need so much more time and prayer to absorb and benefit from its teaching.

Initially I was attracted by the account of the saint’s life. Born into a very poor family and as a teenager employed as a nurse’s aide and alms seeker for the sick poor of a charitable hospital, he learned compassion and tenderness at first hand. He cared for the physically and the spiritually ill to the end of his life. Encouraged to study he was drawn to the Carmelite order and made his profession in 1564. His religious life and thought was much bound with the thinking and inspiration of Teresa of Avila and though of very different personalities they supported each other through difficult times. There being much opposition within the Church to the reforms which Teresa instigated, John was “kidnapped” and imprisoned for nine months in extreme deprivation. He escaped and lived for ten years in Andalusia where he was confessor and spiritual director to both religious and laity and there wrote all his major works. Later he became prior of a monastery in Segovia.

To the end of his life he was hounded by traditionalists who tried to destroy his reputation. He died in 1591 at the age of 49. As the author says: “He responded in love to every circumstance in life, good or bad, joyful or painful” His abiding words were

“Where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love.”

So far, I have described only the first chapter of this remarkable book. The remaining ten chapters are a serious investigation of John’s understanding of the spiritual and psychological ills of we humans and how, despite the fact that he lived more than 400 years ago, he can still offer guidance and help for healing and forgiveness. As Sr.Elizabeth Obbard writes in her review (and I cannot do better):

“In this beautiful and very readable book, Fr. Daniel Chowning has distilled the teaching of St. John of the Cross for a new generation, linking it with his own personal, pastoral, and psychological insights. Under St. John’s guidance all are encouraged to surrender to the process of healing and transformation in Christ. It is a contemplative journey that leads to freedom and the integration of the whole person. Chowning’s writing is the fruit of many years of studying and teaching the Carmelite saints, and I was hooked from page one. Be enthused, inspired, and challenged to make the journey of contemplative love a way of life ‘costing not less than everything.’ It’s never too late to set out.”

(© 2025 by Daniel Chowning, OCD. Published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.)

Janet Robinson