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He was wounded because of our transgressions, He was crushed because of our iniquities; The chastisement of our welfare was upon him And with his stripes we were healed. (Isaiah 53:5) | |
And Moses returned unto the Lord and said: Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them a god of gold. Let now forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written. (Exodus 82:31) | |
Before I was afflicted I did err; but now I observe Thy word. (Psalms 119:67) It is good for me that I have been afflicted | |
God’s word recorded in Scripture: ‘Behold it is very good’ (Genesis 1:31) refers to the suffering which occurs in the world. But how can the words ‘behold it is very good’ be applied to suffering? Because through it men attain immortality. For, go forth in life and see which path leads man to eternity. Surely it is the path of sorrow. (Genesis Rabbah 9.8) | |
When mankind languisheth in pain let no man say: ‘I shall return unto mine own household, [to] eat and drink and be at peace!’ Nay, each man must be willing to suffer with his fellowmen. He who shares the afflictions of others will merit to behold the comforting of humanity. (Taanith 11a) | |
Among the ways of acquiring understanding of the Divine Law, is the cheerful acceptance of suffering. (Mishnah Avot 6.6) | |
The psalmist recalls the sombre days of his affliction, the sudden disaster, the dazed heart heavy with grief, then the gradual healing of the wounded spirit, the chastened soul, the deepened understanding, and the blessed sense of God’s comfort and mercy. All this he recalls and praises the Lord: ‘It is good that Thou hast afflicted me, for thus have I learned Thy statutes.’ | |
When we live at ease we sail carelessly over the surface of life unaware of its deeper undercurrents. Then calamity overtakes us, and, in the struggle with the waves, we learn how precious is life, how deep is pain, how boundless our gratitude to our Deliverer and Preserver. God brings us to the very gates of death, in order that we may learn, manfully, how to choose life. | |
It is not only our own affliction which brings us blessing. Our fellowmen suffer for our benefit. From their tragedies we learn how to avoid misfortune. Even the material comforts of our life are largely due to suffering of those who lived before us. The houses in which we live, the fuel we burn, the streets we traverse, all have a history of toil, suffering, danger, and even death. The musician who delights us with his art, the teacher who brings light to our minds, the physician who rescues us from pain, all have endured years of self-denial, toil and trouble. We live by the sufferings of the mother who bore us and the parents who reared us. The beautiful lives which inspire us have been wrought in the furnace of affliction. | |
The call comes to all of us to bless as we have been blessed; to accept our share of this interblend of pain and benefit. We who profit by the vast linkage of human woe and weal cannot refuse the burden of pain. We must patiently accept the daily restraints of conscience, and walk the arduous way of virtue. Perhaps others may profit by our strivings and find in our humble lives a blessing. | |
In Thy mercy, O God of Love, Thou causest light to shine in hours of darkness. We thank Thee that Thou hast afflicted us, for thus hast Thou shown us Thy salvation. | |
Teach us, O Lord, to trust in Thy love, to accept with patience, the grief Thou sendest. Grant us the hope that we may behold our affliction and our trust and be enlightened. Open our eyes to see that none liveth to himself alone; that innumerable are the strands binding each to each. May our sorrows be hallowed and solaced by the thought that as no man liveth for himself alone, no man suffereth for himself alone; that all that suffering createth, whether of beauty within us or of achievement for the good of others, belongeth not to one but to all. Our sufferings can become highways to the goals of love. Lead us therefore in the paths of love that our every sorrow may be endured for Thy name’s sake, so that even the valley of the shadow[1] of death. cf. Psalms 23:4 may become a pathway where we may walk with Thee. |
“Accepting the Burden” is the forty-third prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 143-145. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution of authorship for any of the prayers in this volume.
Source(s)
Notes
| 1 | of death. cf. Psalms 23:4 |
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“Accepting the Burden, a meditation on suffering (CCAR 1923)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication.
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