Life is not a bed of roses !! It is difficult to FOLLOW HIM when the pain becomes unbearable.

Jeff, Thank you for your open heart and open mindedness

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Excellent discussion about suffering, Jeff ! Personally, I think that God himself, out of immense love for us, suffers himself also, over us his children, analogous to the way any loving parent suffers with his/her children who are suffering, or who have gone astray. I also think that when suffering is embraced (even the word "suffer" can mean "endure", and in old English, "allow"), as the active or permissive will of God for his divine and inscrutable purposes, it transforms that suffering into something, ... a "particle," if you will (probably from the same root as to partake, or participation), ... of "holiness" which can be "offered up" as a participation in the Mystical Body of Christ. In a way, the suffering becomes a vehicle of grace. All of this is implicit in the word "sacri-fice" which means "holy-make" or "make holy". So when we "offer it up" in "sacrifice", it becomes a thing of holiness. And what more meaning, or value, can suffering take on, in this light ?

Pursuit of happiness. It seems likely that Jefferson believed the pursuit would lead us to the good life, lived in moral goodness. Catholics are the body of Christ. Our suffering is made meaningful if we dedicate it to the mission or cross of Jesus. This is salvation -- to die daily.