In crisis, the wrong question to ask is, "What have I done to deserve this?" The right one is, "What am I now being summoned to do?" Each of us has a task. Every life has a purpose. We can bear the pain of the past when we discover the future we are called on to make.

The final week in Jesus' life included especially great depths and heights: He faced a dark night of the soul in Gethsemane, a torturous cross and, ultimately, a glorious resurrection. Identifying with Jesus in His journey keeps us focused and faithful in ours.

Not only does God stand with those who are suffering. God also stands with those who are suffering and cannot return the favor. Whether I could drag myself to church made not one iota of difference to this solidarity.

Any attempts to infuse suffering with rich meaning shows callous indifference to the heartache of fellow humans. Suffering does not leave us ennobled but broken, morose and bitter.

The one none can really imagine in our wildest dreams, and the one none of have a corner on. The one who stays no matter what we do, hurts when we hurt, and loves us beyond belief. The one that is for us all.

In a much discussed New York Times piece called ‘An Imperfect God’, the philosopher Yoram Hazony opens by stating the standard descriptions of Go...

What was G-d thinking when he sent Hurricane Sandy and what could have been its purpose? In truth, I don't much care, because our role as humans is not to understand G-d's plan in the face of horror and tragedy, but to challenge God and demand that human life always be protected and preserved.

It continually amazes me that the majority of spiritual seekers from the most affluent countries on our small planet seem to be looking for one thing above anything else: peace. Has our lot in life really been that bad?

Even at the depth of Job's suffering, he engages God. He does not cut himself off from the ability to give thanks. Job doesn't deny his own pain; he uses it as a gateway to go deeper into his relationship with God.

By killing all preconceptions we have about who or what God is, we do indeed free God simply to be, as stated in Exodus and by great theologians and philosophers ever since.

I'm happy to say, I looked into his innocent young eyes and I said, "God is love. God is not out to get the world, God is out to save it."

By Richard Yeakley Religion News Service (RNS) When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore six years ago, it brought in its wake untold property damage a...

Was the tragedy in Japan unleashed by the earthquake and tsunami, as well as the damage to the nuclear power plants, an act of God? Of course, it depends on what kind of God you believe in.

On Monday, Tokyo's governor, Shintaro Ishihara, was quoted as saying, "I think (the disaster in Japan) is tembatsu." Tembatsu is a Japanese term that means "divine punishment."

Call me a crank, but I think Hank Williams has a better chance of knocking Justin Bieber off the Top-10 charts than the Pope has of recalling young people to the Mother Church with tales of faith and suffering.