S6:6 EP82: Our Lady of Tenderness

Why does suffering exist? Why does a good God allow suffering? It's the age-old question - and while we may not have any neat answers, we do have an arresting image: Our Lady of Tenderness - the stunning vision of a mother's love for her child. Today on the podcast Katie meditates on the tenderness, sorrow, suffering, and softness of God. Tune in for some beautiful chant and to learn more about a beautiful devotion to Our Lady of Tenderness.  ------ Subscribe to Born of Wonder on Substack https://bornofwonder.substack.com     Support Born of Wonder on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/bornofwonder    www.bornofwonder.com  ------- Hail Mary, Богородице дѣво - Slavonic Byzantine Chant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrD7WMl9L4g   Our Lady of Tenderness Icon https://russianicon.com/our-lady-of-tenderness-icon-main-features/    Madonna of the Streets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonnina_%28painting%29    What God is Not - Tenderness https://whatgodisnot.com    St. Hildegard of Bingen PRX piece https://beta.prx.org/stories/266720    Sarah Clarkson – This Beautiful Truth Laura Fanucci https://substack.com/@laurakellyfanucci Claire Swinarski – Live not by Life Hacks - https://substack.com/inbox/post/136692543     The More Loving One - W.H. Auden https://poets.org/poem/more-loving-one    KINGS 19:11-13 - Elijah waiting for God on the mountain   "The Sorrows of Autumn" https://www.bornofwonder.com/home/the-sorrows-of-autumn      Letter 177 from letters and papers from prison  Dietrich Bonhoeffer    "The same God who is with us is the God who forsakes us (Matthew 15:34!). The same God who makes us to live in the world without the working hypothesis of God is the God before whom we stand continually. Before God, and with God, we live without God. God consents to be pushed out of the world and onto the cross; God is weak and powerless in the world and in precisely this way, and only so, is at our side and helps us. Matt. 8:17 Makes it quite clear the Christ helps us not by the virtue of his omnipotence but rather by virtue of his weakness and suffering! This is the crucial distinction between Christianity and all religions. Human religiosity directs people in need to the power of God in the world, God as deus ex machina. The Bible direct people towards the powerlessness and the suffering of God; only the suffering God can help.  The human being is called upon to share in God’s suffering at the hands of a godless world.... It is not a religious act that makes someone a Christian, but rather sharing God’s suffering in the worldly life."   Достойно есть, It Is Truly Right - Hymn to the Theotokos sung by Divna Ljubojević https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAP6FHhhcMs