Born, Called and Rose above the Pain

At TheGoodNewsCast.com, we believe suffering isn’t the end—it’s the beginning of a call. From womb to tomb, God’s voice still speaks: ‘Let there be light,’ and through Christ, that light now lives in us.

In every era, humanity has grappled with one of life’s most haunting questions: Why do we suffer? Despite advances in science, medicine, and psychology, this mystery persists—not just in headlines or hospitals, but in the quiet chambers of our hearts.

Yet, amid this mystery, a deeper truth emerges—one that has echoed since we took our first breath. As recent reflections from writers like Aya, Ramesh Meda, and Father Christopher Mahar suggest, suffering is not a meaningless affliction but a sacred act woven into our very calling. Their voices speak of a deeper truth: suffering was there in the beginning.

"The Holy One singled me out, even before I was born. God called me and named me when I was still in my mother’s belly." Isaiah 49

Before light touched our eyes, God called on us. Before we could cry out, God had already known us by name. We were summoned from the womb not only to bear suffering but to be transformed by it. To suffer, then, is to walk the path of Christ as we await the joy that comes when we cry out, "Abba, and Father."

In a world desperate for meaning, this truth is revolutionary: God is always there. Even in our suffering, God's love remains. So before the world asks, "Why?" it might first consider asking, "Are we ready?"

From the very beginning, we were called, and even in its deepest pain, that calling remains the same: to reflect the glory and joy that come from the knowledge of the Holy One who says, "Let there be light," and immediately, Christ appears.

• Forged in Fire, Held in Grace: Strength in Suffering

• From Pain to Purpose: The Urgency of Now

• Suffering with God: The Sacred Presence in Pain

• Beyond “Why”: What Now?

Forged in Fire, Held in Grace: Strength in Suffering

In her June 2025 essay, Why Do We Suffer?, writer Aya doesn’t try to fix pain with platitudes. She doesn’t wrap suffering in a bow of optimism or push readers toward a silver lining (Aya). Instead, she offers something far more powerful: honesty.

Suffering, Aya writes, is part of being human. It comes from our experiences, the harm it causes others, random misfortunes, and simply the sensitive nature of life itself. Sometimes love just hurts—and that’s the truth many are too afraid to say, but Aya doesn't stop there.

“Don’t let it harden you,” she urges. “Let it enlighten you, not define you.” In that simple phrase lies the heart of her message: pain isn’t always understood, but our response to it can be. The world can’t avoid suffering, but it can choose to respond. Yet, beyond the raw truth of human frailty lies a deeper truth—one that speaks of a loving grace working even in the midst of pain.

“He made my mouth like a sharp sword… He made me like a sharpened arrow in his quiver.” Isaiah 49

These words are not just poetic—they are prophetic. They speak of a time held until the right moment. A sword must be forged. An arrow must be aimed. In this vision, suffering is not meaningless—it is prepared.

Here lies the tension between Aya’s vision and Isaiah’s promise: both acknowledge pain, but where Aya offers resilience, Isaiah offers light. Through both lenses, we see that suffering—whether random or planned—is a fire through which we are made new again. Christ, the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision, embodies this union of pain and purpose. His suffering was not only endured but answered from a path of grace. In Christ, we see what it means to suffer, to hurt, to weep, and yet still call on a Holy name.

“No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal the Father.” Matthew 11

Christ is the Word's light, and through his life, suffering, and Spirit—we become a sharp sword that pierces confusion with a responsive love that begins with "why?"

Together, Aya’s vision and Isaiah’s promise offer something we desperately need in a world overflowing with pain: truth that doesn't lie and judgement that doesn't condemn. The world is not abandoned in its suffering. Transformed through suffering and sustained by grace, when the moment arrives, the world will be ready to ask, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?"

From Pain to Purpose: The Urgency of Now

In a world constantly searching for comfort, Ramesh Meda’s Suffering Is Your Superpower doesn’t whisper—it roars. Published in February 2025 by the MEDA Foundation, it reads less like a reflection and more like a manifesto—a rallying cry to stop fearing pain and start seeing the light (Meda).

Leaning on Nietzsche’s Amor Fati (“love of fate”) and the Will to Power, Meda argues that suffering is not a weakness to be endured but a weapon to be wielded. Pain, he insists, is not the enemy—it’s the beginning where greatness is born. “Let it change your why,” he writes. “Redirect it. Let it fuel your faith. Let it sharpen your understanding.”

For Meda, suffering is an internal warfare—the battle where faith is not only tested but also refined. It’s not about avoiding pain or even surviving it. It’s about understanding the power of pain that gives us the answer to the question, "Why?" Critics may crumble at the intensity. Some warn that this mindset can risk turning real anguish into a metric for success. But for those who resonate with the urgency of his message, Meda offers more than motivation—he offers understanding and that mission echoes far beyond individual resilience.

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob... I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 49

What begins as a restoration of Jacob becomes a global redemption. The chosen are not only healed—they are sent. We are not just rescued—we are released. In Christ, the prophecy is fulfilled: a world once scattered is now called to be a light to the nations.

This isn’t passive waiting. It’s active preparation. Like Meda’s sharpened soul, Isaiah’s servant is compared to an arrow—prepared in secret, drawn back with tension, and released with precision. The pain of suffering is not wasted—it is the tension that gives the arrow its power.

“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you do not know how to interpret this present time.” Luke 12

The world is easily swayed, but the sky is shifting, and the time to prepare is now. It suffers, but not without purpose. It is called, but not to the few. It hurts, but then it is set free. Suffering is part of the plan. When understood through a sharp sword, it becomes the very thing that walks in power and moves with purpose.

So whether the world aches in silence or rises from the ashes, the invitation remains the same: The time is now, and our Heavenly Father waits with a joyous reward. Let the people hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.

Suffering with God: The Sacred Presence in Pain

In a world that often rushes to escape pain and suffering, Father Christopher Mahar’s Finding God in Suffering offers something real yet powerful: the presence of God in the midst of our suffering.

Featured in the National Catholic Register, Mahar’s 2024 book doesn’t reduce suffering to a test or a tool. Instead, he speaks to those whose wounds still ache, whose questions remain unanswered (Mahar). Mahar doesn’t try to resolve pain—he redeems it by placing it in a relationship. God does not remove the burden but carries it when it is too much to bear alone.

Mahar's view is profoundly relational. It is about God's presence, which is with us, not just for us. For those walking through loss, illness, or injustice, Mahar’s writing invites us to trust the process, and that trust echoes through the Holy Scriptures and is fulfilled in the Suffering Servant.

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Zechariah 13

This came to pass when Christ—the Good Shepherd—was crucified and left with only God to call his own. His cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), was not one of despair, but of deep communion. Like the psalm he quoted (Psalm 22), Jesus was inviting God’s presence into humanity's suffering. His suffering was not a mistake. He bore it for us and with us, from the very beginning when God said, "Let us make life together, both male and female."

The Book of Mormon, articulates it beautifully:

“He shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind... that he may know according to the flesh how to answer his people.” Alma 7

This is the heart of the Christian understanding of suffering: Christ did not just understand our pain—He endured it. Through his wounds, he became the bridge between our agony and God’s joyous love. So as the world suffers, it is not just enduring the pain—it is participating in the mystery of the end when it will call out like Christ did and God answers—with light.

Father Mahar’s reflections are not theological abstractions; they are a call to communal faith. Suffering becomes bearable when it is shared—with the one who alone is God. In this sacred communion, we find the seed of restoration—not only for a few, but for all who call on God's holy name.

Beyond “Why”: What Now?

In our modern world—filled with conflict, loss, and questions too complex for easy answers—the conversation around suffering is undergoing a shift. Gone are the days of tidy explanations and oversimplified doctrines. A deeper, more honest perspective is emerging, one that doesn’t just ask, “Why?” but “What now?”

Three powerful voices in 2024–2025—Aya, Ramesh Meda, and Father Christopher Mahar—offer distinct yet similar perspectives. For Aya, suffering is part of being human. It’s not always understood, not always deserved, and rarely accepted. However, it is still with us. In her grounded and compassionate view, suffering invites strength, even if it is without a resolution.

For Meda, suffering is fuel. In Suffering Is Your Superpower, he draws from philosophy and personal conviction to see suffering as the catalyst for greatness. It’s not a burden to avoid but a force to be harnessed. His call is bold: stop resisting pain, and start seeing through it.

Father Mahar brings a spiritual truth, reminding us that God does not remove the pain and will never leave us alone in it. Through Christ, suffering becomes holy unto God because the Heavenly Father is present within it. The Father is not far from our agony but there with us when we ask, "Why and what now?"

Together, these voices don’t offer a formula. They offer a light—one where suffering is not evil but held until the end when the light of God's Word brings the world a joyous reward. Nevertheless, this conversation doesn’t stop at insight. It is the beginning of restoration for all, and it begins with the nation of Israel, the one God called "My firstborn son."

From the womb to the tomb, Christ’s journey wasn’t his alone to bear—it is the path we are invited to walk. Isaiah proclaimed that we are called, named, and bought to glorify God, even before birth. Through Christ, that calling becomes clear: not only to endure, but to see God in it. Jesus didn’t simply suffer—he became the reason why we do. When he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” he invited God in, and the joy of the Lord lifted him back up again. The wind obeys him. The storm quiets at his word and when he calls on the Father, God listens.

Mahar's writing truly shows that suffering, when joined to Christ, becomes a place where God listens and answers. Through Jesus, the justice of Ezekiel is fulfilled, the promise to restore Jacob is kept, and the Gates of Heaven are opened wide. The voice that summoned the light in Genesis still speaks: “Let there be light,” and that light lives in Christ—and now, in us.

Matthew 22:14 reminds us, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” When the few respond, they answer God’s call and ask, "Father, why?"

So, what now?

Now, we embrace the call that suffering cannot silence. We walk forward not with heads bowed, but with voices lifted in faith. We suffer—not alone, not in vain—but with the Holy One of Israel and all the people who are not ashamed to call their Heavenly Father their own. The same voice that calls out of the wilderness now calls the world to step out of the tomb and into the light.

Is the world ready?

Works Cited

Aya. “Why Do We Suffer?” Medium, 14 June 2025, medium.com/@cervantesfrea/why-do-we-suffer-b743d9255615.

Mahar, Christopher M. Finding God in Suffering. Pauline Books & Media, 2024.

Meda, Ramesh. Suffering Is Your Superpower: Why Suffering Is the Key to Strength, Growth, and Greatness. MEDA Foundation, 23 Feb. 2025.