This article is the first part of an extensive reflection on human suffering. Sister Elise tells us why she chose to write about suffering when she says, "First, like any other human person, I wrestle constantly with the meaning of pain, grief, frustration, alienation, and oppression in my own personal life. Second, I have met many situations in my ministry in which I have felt helpless and totally inadequate before the suffering of others. I have been forced to grapple with what possible meaning suffering could have in any human life at all, especially suffering for which there is no immediate or foreseeable possibility of elimination or even significant alleviation." Sr. Elise tries to find the answer to this question by examining personal, societal, and religious responses to human suffering. Stauros is grateful to Sr. Elise for allowing us to use these reflections. In this issue Sr. Elise focuses on personal and societal reactions to suffering. Subsequent issues (but not necessarily consecutive issues) will explore the Judeo-Christian response as well as implications for daily life. It is Sr. Elise's hope, and ours, that these reflections will lead to insights which may be sources of hope and energy for all our readers.

Personal Experience

Sr. Elise begins her reflection by recounting three recent and very personal experiences of suffering. "First, I was the victim of a robbing and mugging incident and this traumatizing experience gave me some insights into my own view of suffering. Although I was the victim, I experienced deep feelings of guilt. I felt that somehow I was responsible for what had happened. As I worked through the feelings generated by this episode, I realized that my experience had social dimensions which were inter-related but that my guilt feelings were irrational. I could take some personal responsibility for my share in a social situation that made such an event, if not inevitable, at least highly probable. Yet I could also affirm myself as a worthwhile person against whom a senseless and unmerited act of violence had been perpetrated. Eventually I could view this event as part of my own process of growing towards greater personal freedom and social responsibility.

"Secondly, my experiences as a hospital chaplain brought me to grips with our helplessness in the face of human misery, our powerlessness in the face of pain and death. Yet, I saw within persons sources of great strength and coping power. I was moved with the beauty of their profound discernment of their own personal mystery. Thirdly, I became involved in Shalom Community, working in a very poor neighborhood on Chicago's south side. I listened to the experiences of the neighborhood people as they struggled to make sense of their lives which seemed terribly depressing and hopeless. Yet they witnessed to a vitality and commitment to life which never failed to impress me. These experiences made me aware that ministry to the suffering must necessarily entail a great deal more than alleviating suffering. I had seen such strength, beauty and wisdom that though I hated the suffering, I had to recognize and rejoice at the power that emerged in the midst of it. I saw that I was called to greater growth and understanding through sharing with persons who strove for meaning in the midst of their sufferings. I wanted to promote and celebrate this, while yet participating in working against the sources of pain and oppression which afflicted the lives of the people I served.

The Challenge to Human Awareness Today

"'When things got tougher, we got stronger!' proclaims a current television ad for a popular pain-reliever. The harried housewife in the pictures smiles. She'll make it through another day. It's a familiar vignette--one which might be a tip-of-the-iceberg symbol for our contemporary response to pain and suffering. We marshal enormous resources in our war against suffering. The focus of our concern ranges from the ravages of destructive diseases like cancer and heart trouble to the annoyance caused by mosquito bites or the inconvenience of getting up from our chairs to change channels on the television set. A life without suffering or even discomfort is implicitly held up as the vision of the full human life. Heaven on earth is the state of painlessness, odorlessness, non-failure, non-want--a kind of limbo existence in which, with all our needs met, we float in an atmosphere of stasis. Is this exaggerated? A few hours of watching television or reading current magazines certainly confirms this view. News reports and advertisements alike evince the eternal human struggle to eliminate pain and suffering, fear and want, inconvenience and aggravation from our personal and communal lives. I am led to ask, 'What is suffering, what role does it play in human life?'

"The simplest definition of suffering is 'the condition of being in pain.' Though this definition lends itself to a large range of human interpretation, it nevertheless has a basically clear meaning since pain is a universally experienced phenomenon. Not everyone experiences pain in the same circumstances, but everyone knows what is meant when the word is used. However, there are still distinctions to be made. Simone Weil distinguishes 'affliction ' from 'pain ' and 'suffering,' claiming that only in affliction are the three human dimensions (physical, psychological, and social) completely overwhelmed.1 This is a subhuman level of existence where the freedom of the individual is paralyzed by the circumstances of life. There are other levels of suffering, however, which do not so totally invade the human spirit, where one still is able to recognize power at work in one's life, where one can feel the unfairness of the situation, can complain, resist, cry out, pray for changes in one's condition. There is a human response--that of valuing one's own life sufficiently to resist what threatens to destroy it, to want to change what diminishes oneself. Freedom is engaged, at least to some extent.

"At a yet higher level, the focus moves from a view of suffering/pain as an unmitigated and overwhelming evil power, and tends to focus on human freedom as a means of determining a response. At this level, we enter into solidarity with others in actions to change structures recognized as sources of suffering and oppression.2

Levels of Human Experience

"In addition to levels of awareness and freedom of response, we must make another distinction. Life is lived on personal, social, and transcendental levels. We experience the joys and sorrows of our lives in deeply personal ways, knowing how they can engage our bodies and our spirits, our own unique persons. We also experience them as social events, recognizing that we are ourselves only insofar as we are in a community of persons. Our experiences are to a great extent shaped by the society which has formed us. But beyond the personal and societal there is yet another level of reality which also determines how we experience our lives. This might be called the transcendental level. Personally and societally we recognize a call to move constantly beyond our 'here and now.' We dream dreams and have visions. We strive towards ideals which we never adequately realize. The human spirit transcends its own present reality and is called forth to greater being. And at each of these levels of lived experience, suffering can and does take place.

The Context of Human Freedom

"We can easily find examples of persons' coping with suffering in freedom and dignity, but even these do not begin to address some of the most complex and nagging questions related to the mystery of human anguish. Why do some rise above suffering and even seem to profit by their experience? Why do others manage to turn their experience of suffering into a real service of the community? Why are some overwhelmed by their suffering and pain, becoming bitter and angry? Why do some even accept suffering as a punishment and others fight against it as an ultimate evil in life? Why do some accept suffering as 'God's will' and others dedicate their lives to eradicating suffering as being opposed to that will?

"These questions cannot be ignored. They remain in spite of all the noble examples of persons who, through their suffering, have demonstrated the possibilities of human freedom in the response to their own life's c