Facing Suffering – Br. Curtis Almquist

Job 19:23-27

For several years prior to my coming to the Monastery I was a parish priest.  A number of us pastors in the area took a monthly rotation as a night chaplain in the local community hospital.  During these night shifts, we chaplains would spend most of our time on-call in the intensive care unit and in the emergency room, helping care for very sick, sometimes traumatized patients, family members, and the medical staff.  On more than a few occasions I recall standing beside a hospital gurney that was weighted down by a tragedy-in-the-making, and my having little or nothing to say to the patient or loved ones or to the staff.  What we often shared in those moments were tears, but I had few, if any, words.  What’s to be said?  Less rather than more, and for several reasons. Read More