A Letter to a Friend

Prayer is our response to God's invitation to sharing part in his love. Prayer has many layers that match our many layered lives. You can pray vocally, talk to Jesus acknowledging he's your best friend. You can pray in a contemplative way, and this means just being silent, both outwardly and mentally, and being attentive to God's presence within you, directing your heart and mind towards Him. You can pray by your actions, by being aware that all the good things you do for people who need help, you do them for Jesus.


Regarding vocal prayer, sometimes it is difficult to come up with words to say to God. You can start by counting your blessings and thanking Him for all the good things you've received. You can then pray for others, asking God that they may become closer to Him. After this petition you can ask him to help you discover him as he wants you to see him. To help you realize everyday a little bit more that it is emptying ourselves that we receive him. You can also pray that he may lead you to discover how much he wants to give you, and to be swept by the ocean of his love.


And regarding suffering and injustice: You're right about the absurdity of death, suffering, and injustice. I understand how it can be difficult to believe in a good God. Yet, God created us so that we are able to choose evil, because it is more loving if he allows us to reject him, than if we were created as robots who can never stray from the right path. He wanted us to love him freely. An unfortunate consequence of our freedom is that people can do horrible things to others, like what happened to Catalina. But this explanation does not help much those who are going through grief. Ultimately suffering is a mystery.

What helps us live past the darkness is to know that Jesus also passed through the sufferings of a horrible death and humiliation, but that suffering and death were not the end for him. So by his resurrection he has transformed all suffering into a blessing. This sounds crazy. And it sort of is -we believe that God loves us in such a crazy way, that he humbled himself by becoming a man, suffering much, and dying a death of torture. He showed us his great power and might, by becoming weak. How did suffering become a blessing? Because through this death he destroyed our bondage to sin, and by by his resurrection he restored us to a full life. His suffering becomes then the most vivid expression of what love is. He gave himself completely for us so that we may be free of sin.

His sacrifice for us is a call to become one in him, and through this union allow his death be the death of all our sin, and through his resurrection, start enjoying a life of intense love and joy with each other and Him. Then, in light of His death and resurrection, suffering becomes an invitation to live in union with Him, the source of our joy. By accepting this great gift, we can in our sufferings, unite ourselves to him and find joy in discovering how much he loved us by the sufferings he underwent. In this way we see every drop of blood he spilled for us in the Cross as precious.

Then suffering, which may seem like a stumbling block to faith, can be an opportunity. When we are strong and healthy and feel in control of our lives, we may be blind to our need for God. Suffering can allow us to see ourselves as we really are: in need of Him.


I pray that you may allow yourself to be swept by the ocean of his love.


Carlos J. Medina