The Divine Milieu Theology Of Suffering Analysis

Anabella Morabito
02/23/2015
Spirituality and Justice
The Divine Milieu: Theology of Suffering In speaking of the Holocaust and a theology and suffering and solidarity, Rabbi Irving Greenberg gave an image which compelled me when I first heard of it in my Liberation Christology class. Goizueta paraphrased the statement in saying “To stand over a pit of burning children and say ‘God is love’, is incredible and obscene. In the face of that kind of unconscionable cruelty the only credible statement is to step in, pull the child out, clean their face, and heal his or her wounds.” Certainly a compelling statement for me, given my constant look to the practical. Trying to find practical ways to alleviate suffering, dwelling within the realm of
activities. This methodology of mine, to immediately look for the practical, is certainly a gift in many respects.
Teilhard brings us the passivities and the activities, the idea that we may find the extraordinary in the ordinary. But Teilhard’s work challenges me, because he draws our attention to the passivities; a realm which I often try to avoid. He states that "Seen from our point of view, the active occupies first place because we prefer it and because it is more easily perceived. But in the reality of things the passive is immeasurably the wider and the deeper part." (46) Teilhard's emphasis on the passive calls me to discern a theology of suffering within the realm of passivities (not just a theology of suffering that in activities looks to solve problems), it calls me to a theology which seeks to answer the question: “But can God also be found in and through death?” (52) And more
importantly can we find God in the suffering which is outside of our control and dwell in that encounter? This weekend I spent my days helping lead a retreat for college students - 18 to 22 years old. It was quite different from all the experiences of youth ministry I have had in the past, because it was a much older audience, and the subject of the retreat was “Spirituality and Sexuality”. I had never had the liberty to touch upon such a subject so freely, because I always worked in a parish setting. However, this weekend it was a retreat for a non-profit Catholic-Christian faith based ministry I have been working with for years. Part of me, believed that the retreat would be within the realm of activities. I would be in control of all which would ensue, and I would be accompanying others in their reflections. No part of me thought that my own personal encounter with sexuality and spirituality would be compromised in this experience. Since 2012 I have been in a relationship, not a typical relationship, but a rather asexual and platonic relationship.
My partner was sexually abused several times as a child by both a woman and a man, and it has been a personal struggle for him to be in a fully healthy sexual encounter with anybody since then. His body has not healed the memory of the abuse and any encounter can trigger profound suffering and disconnection for him. My being with him, my accompanying him, has certainly been the biggest challenge of my life; to love someone that is limited in his ability to relate with others and to understand himself as a sexual being. I have studied spirituality and sexuality, I have looked to understand the depths of the mystery in his heart, I have looked to grow in awareness of his limitations and wounds and cater to that in the best of my ability, I have learned ways to minister to this, I have explored psychotherapy and meditation and its tremendous benefits in healing. I have intellectually explored his condition for the past 2 years. I have shared tremendous experiences of darkness with him, and I have sat in the midst of his suffering (as well as mine). It has been hard for me to not be able to share a ‘normal’ relationship with him, but it is even harder for me to not be able to solve the problem. It is harder for me to understand intellectually all that needs to happen, and have the ministerial capacity to help others begin to heal experiences similar to his in
the retreat, but not be able to help him begin to heal his experience. This weekend I was faced with that utter lack of control; I was dwelling in this deeper and wider realm of passivities which Teilhard calls us to reflect on. Why is it that I can’t do absolutely anything to pull him out of the burning pit and clean his face? Why is it that I can only sit in the immensity of our encounter, in the mystery of who he is and who I am and what is between us? Why is it that I can only dwell in the in between of the encounter of love and suffering and only reside in it knowing that it is completely outside of my reach and completely beyond my control? During the retreat I was re-reading a chapter of Elizabeth Johnson’s book, The Quest for Living God, looking for sources to work with alongside Teilhard's piece. In so doing I stumbled upon a question which I believe is worthy to explore alongside Teilhard’s question and in the midst of my reflection on my relationship with my partner. Johnson states, “The proper question is not why did God permits this to happen, or how can this be reconciled with a divine governance of the world. Rather, thinking on the far side of the break brought about by this experience, the proper question becomes the anguished query: where is God, where is God now?” (51) In reading this question, in reading Teilhard and in looking at my experience I find that God feels very much like I feel with Alberto. God loves us profoundly, absolutely, dwells in our mystery, and in between us and Her, knows what could be done; and yet, can only in our liberty resort to sit in and through and within the suffering in loving accompaniment. God understands and knows our immensity, our depth, our mystery, and yet, does not fear to dwell in it; however painful it may be to sit in the loving encounter and find oneself to be impotent. God does not fear the vulnerability and depth of forever residing in the I-Thou encounter which Buber explains. Teilhard never locates God in the diminishment, he never sees God as the cause of the diminishment. But rather, sees God as the accompanying force of resistance in that experience of suffering whose solution is beyond the realm of activities. As Johnson would say, “Divine power, then, is the silent cry of life in the midst of suffering.” (64) It is the cry of the God who loves us profoundly and accompanies us, and yet cries in resistance. And cries in acknowledgement of the ways in which we will persevere in and through the suffering, and in the cry recognizes the alternative to the suffering. In the cry we find the hope, the resistance which Teilhard speaks of. Teilhard states that “We must overcome death by finding God in it.” (54) Rightly so, in the silent cry we may find the space to reserve the hope for that which will come beyond the suffering, and the space to encounter the God of the cross as well as the God of the resurrection.