
“But the real, tremendous truth is this: suffering serves no purpose whatever.”
This Business of Living (1935-1950)
Address https://apnews.com/article/e5458697cf06bbb518a9ffafffd650e5 to the U.N. Security Council (31 January 1992)
1990s
“But the real, tremendous truth is this: suffering serves no purpose whatever.”
This Business of Living (1935-1950)
“War, no matter what our intentions may be, brings suffering and tragedy.”
Obama raises human rights in Vietnam, calls for 'peaceful resolution' of South China Sea disputes http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/24/politics/obama-vietnam-south-china-sea/, CNN (24 May 2016)
2016
“Jesus Christ has to suffer and be rejected. … Suffering and being rejected are not the same.”
Source: Discipleship (1937), Discipleship and the Cross, p. 84.
Context: Jesus Christ has to suffer and be rejected. … Suffering and being rejected are not the same. Even in his suffering Jesus could have been the celebrated Christ. Indeed, the entire compassion and admiration of the world could focus on the suffering. Looked upon as something tragic, the suffering could in itself convey its own value, its own honor and dignity. But Jesus is the Christ who was rejected in his suffering. Rejection removed all dignity and honor from his suffering. It had to be dishonorable suffering. Suffering and rejection express in summary form the cross of Jesus. Death on the cross means to suffer and to die as one rejected and cast out. It was by divine necessity that Jesus had to suffer and be rejected. Any attempt to hinder what is necessary is satanic. Even, or especially, if such an attempt comes from the circle of disciples, because it intends to prevent Christ from being Christ. The fact that it is Peter, the rock of the church, who makes himself guilty doing this just after he has confessed Jesus to be the Christ and has been commissioned by Christ, shows that from its very beginning the church has taken offense at the suffering of Christ. It does not want that kind of Lord, and as Christ's church it does not want to be forced to accept the law of suffering from its Lord.
“People have been marrying and bringing up children for centuries now. Nothing has ever come of it.”
The Decline and Fall of Science (1976)
Source: Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (2006), Introduction, p. 6
1963, Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty speech
Context: Continued unrestricted testing by the nuclear powers, joined in time by other nations which may be less adept in limiting pollution, will increasingly contaminate the air that all of us must breathe. Even then, the number of children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones, with leukemia in their blood, or with poison in their lungs might seem statistically small to some, in comparison with natural health hazards. But this is not a natural health hazard — and it is not a statistical issue. The loss of even one human life, or the malformation of even one baby — who may be born long after we are gone — should be of concern to us all. Our children and grandchildren are not merely statistics toward which we can be indifferent.
Compassion: The Only Way to Peace (2007)
From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.