#suffering : the bearing of pain, inconvenience, or loss

- French: souffrance

- German: das Leiden

- Italian: sofferenza

- Portuguese: sofrimento

- Spanish: sufrimiento

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A daily challenge to chain words together @ https://wordwallgame.com

RE: https://mastodon.social/@LisaWarnerLisaLuv/116332761510879860

This feels very affirming ~ that a preference for depth in social exchange is a valid #personality trait that some have, and some don’t.

However, that such a preference may be a factor in greater #happiness depends on the depth-oriented individual meeting communities where others share that preference.

When they don’t (as in my childhood), the #suffering of being the weird kid who always wants to have “D&Ms” (disparaging slang for “deep and meaningful conversations” is exquisite. #psychology

A quotation from Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Letter (1862-10-18) to M. Daelli

More about this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/83084/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #victorhugo #lesmiserables #agony #civilization #humancondition #humanity #misery #society #torment #suffering

Expats in Dubai - #bombing
“The whole social contract of #dubai involves a wilful blindness to the proximity of suffering and violence. After all, #gaza is geographically close.

“The Dubai project requires demanding visitors and expats to not think too much about the #suffering or #question what goes on beyond the city’s borders.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/31/dubai-influencers-expats-denial-middle-east-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

brother lawrence…and a key to gaining inner peace

https://thedignityofman.net/2026/03/30/brother-lawrence/

Quote of the day, 30 March: St. Thérèse

“Look at Jesus in His Face … There you will see how He loves us.”

Thérèse is among that great crowd of witnesses—not eyewitnesses, but believers—who look upon Jesus as He dies on the Cross. She deeply understands that only Love can make sense of this event.

In a letter to her sister Céline on 4 April 1889 (LT 87), Thérèse writes:

“Your letter gave great sadness to my soul! … Poor little Papa! … No, the thoughts of Jesus are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways … He is offering us a chalice as bitter as our feeble nature can bear! … Let us not withdraw our lips from this chalice prepared by the hand of Jesus … Let us see life as it really is … […] To suffer in peace it is enough to will all that Jesus wills … To be the spouse of Jesus we must resemble Jesus, and Jesus is all bloody, He is crowned with thorns! … […] The canticle of suffering united to His sufferings is what delights His Heart the most! … Jesus is on fire with love for us … Look at His adorable Face! … Look at His eyes lifeless and lowered! … Look at His wounds … Look at Jesus in His Face … There you will see how He loves us.”

To better understand certain expressions in this letter, it is important to know that on that day, Thursday, 4 April, the liturgy celebrated the First Vespers of the Feast of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which at the time was observed on the Friday of the fourth week of Lent.

Thérèse experienced this liturgy in Carmel, where she had been for nearly a year. Her father, Louis Martin—the Poor little Papa—had been unwell for months, showing alarming signs of decline. It had begun with his disappearance on 23 June 1888, followed by a relapse on 12 August. From that point on, his condition only worsened. On 12 February 1889, he suffered another episode, this time with hallucinations, and was admitted to the Bon Sauveur Hospital in Caen, where he would remain for three years.

For all the Martin sisters, the shock was devastating. Thérèse was deeply affected but did not give way to depression. She faced the trial with astonishing courage, drawing strength and light from her faith.

This letter, like many others, bears witness to this. For several years, her correspondence frequently returned to the themes of suffering and the cross. The devotion to the Holy Face, which was deeply present both in her family and in the Lisieux Carmel, was something she lived fully; the face of the Crucified was ever present in her life.

Father Robert Arcas, o.c.d.

Carmelite Online Retreat, Lent 2025 — Holy Week meditation

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: The crucifixion of Christ is the central window in the Corona Chapel or Beckett’s Crown in Canterbury Cathedral. The window dates from 1200; the center panel was fully recreated in 1853 and the typological scenes are the original stained glass from the medieval period. Image credit: Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

Quote of the day, 28 March: Blessed Marie-Eugène

Mary… on the Way to Calvary

“The people followed him in great numbers.”

We had sought her, and we had not found her. And now—here she is: Mary, on the way to Calvary. She must be there.

Dark rumors had spread through the night about her Son—they said he had been arrested, brought before the Sanhedrin. She had come, accompanied by the holy women. She heard the cries: “Crucify him!” … They said he was to be crucified.

And here she is on the way to Calvary.

She wants to see her Son, and the holy women who accompany her make a way for her through the crowd—at a crossing, at a turn—so that she might be very near.

Jesus passes. Their eyes meet.

What happens in that gaze? All their love.

And the Virgin Mary looks at her Son. She looks upon that face, bruised and swollen. Oh, that gaze of a mother—what does it see? The Word is hidden. She is accustomed to mystery; yet she does not know this suffering. She does not yet know this form of the mystery presented to her.

She enters into it by faith. She accepts it in love.

Jesus, you look upon your Mother—and in that gaze, what a meeting! Your two loves, your two missions, your two offerings—united in the one will of God laid upon you: a shared acceptance of God’s design for each of you, a shared offering of your love for all humanity.

Mary, teach me to read, as you did, this living book that is Jesus on the way to Calvary.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Mary, for your love.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Assidus à la prière avec Marie, Fourth Sorrowful Mystery (excerpt)

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus. Assidus à la prière avec Marie: Méditations sur les mystères du Rosaire. Toulouse: Éditions du Carmel, 2017.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Detail from Mater Dolorosa and Christ of Sorrows by Simon Marmion (French, 1420-1489). Oil on wood panel, ca. 1460, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Strasbourg. Image credit: jean louis mazieres / Flickr (Some rights reserved).