A mentally ill and severely depressed patient walks from morning mass at a convalescence home. She has been living here for many months because her elderly parents cannot cope with her at home.
She stops the priest who has just offered up the body and blood of Christ in holy mass and asks him, “why am I suffering?” His reply both startles her and frightens her, “You are chosen to suffer for everybody else on this earth”.
She asks him if she will get better and his reply is a short and terse, “I don’t know”.
Where is God? Where is hope?
“You are chosen to suffer for everybody else on this earth”.
And that’s why religion is a load of bollocks! Why would anyone be chosen to suffer? That priest sounds like the ultimate dickhead, just like the rest of the Catholic church!
Been reading Dawkins Donncha? 🙂
Adam – I heard Dawkins speak on a video, but this really happened and it’s awful that a man such as this is a priest.
Mel – you can’t make a sweeping statement like that about the whole churhc. They’re certainly not all like that but there are a few rotten ones unfortunately.
God is in us, we are the hope. He does not care about what religion one is, but the concept is always that.
We all suffer & that’s how God created us. Whether we are with or against God, it will make no difference and will not change the fact that we are human beings who suffer.
That’s how I imagine myself replying to that suffering woman.
But to let a mentally ill patient grasp my answer and understand it, that would be REALLY a hard job which will make me suffer!