Patience (# 1766)

1.Meister Eckhart may have more or less said that we should endure our suffering with patience. Included in suffering is the lack of patience with oneself. Lord, give me patience!

2.Being is suffering with us for the mess we have made of our planet. Plants and animals are suffering. Powerful forces are being unleashed.

3.I learned that the Beguines and Dominican nuns of the 13th and 14th centuries were inflicting suffering on themselves in order to be closer to God. Meister Eckhart was teaching that suffering brings us closer to God because God suffers with us.

As I typed that I just saw the argument against corporal penance because, if what Meister Eckhart says is true, the flagellates would be punishing God.

I don’t want to stray too far from the presence of appearance. I don’t quite understand that God is suffering with us. It is quite comforting to think so.