Book to share - December 2025
C.S. Lewis didn’t pretend pain makes sense. He didn’t pretend faith dissolves suffering. Reading him will feel like talking to someone who has walked through their own darkness and understands how heavy life can feel. There are in essence seven sentiments to go through:
1. Pain is not about God’s cruelty, but it’s indeed part of our world built on freedom because true love requires freedom that makes both joy and pain possible. In short, God doesn't delight in our suffering;
2. Suffering can awaken the soul and here Lewis talks about "God’s megaphone", not as a punishment, but as a way to bring truth into our lives when all else fails to reach us. In short, it deepens us quietly, often unwillingly;
3. Human love is fragile, divine love is relentless. Lewis distinguishes between the love humans give and the love of God, which reshapes us with patience and purpose. In short, we're held close by something greater than our own capacity to understand;
4. Pain is not evenly distributed, and that mystery is very much part of what pain is. Lewis acknowledges the unfairness of pain and invites humility for not everything is meant to be solved;
5. Our resistance to suffering often deepens the wound. Instinctly human beings want to fight pain with anger or denial, but this kind of resisting what already is only magnifies suffering. Actively accepting can not only soothe the heart but also create the necessary space for healing;
6. Faith is nothing like certainty, but it’s always a trust in the dark. Faith, Lewis wrote, is choosing to trust when answers are painfully absent. It is indeed not a feeling, but a posture of the soul;
7. Love, even when it hurts, is worth everything. Lewis concludes that much of our pain is intertwined with the depth of our love. Grief, loss, longing are the shadows cast by the brightest light.
Yes, to suffer is, in the end or rather in some way, to have loved. And love, according to Lewis, in all its bruising and brilliance, is the sacred core of being human
