{"id":592,"date":"2013-03-29T03:19:40","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T03:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=592"},"modified":"2013-03-25T19:41:14","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T19:41:14","slug":"chronic-pain-good-friday-and-the-longest-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/03\/chronic-pain-good-friday-and-the-longest-walk.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Pain: Good Friday and The Longest Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Equ0RIiulOA<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a gospel song that resonates through my spirit on Good Friday. Simply named, “Calvary,” (I’ve linked one version of it that I\u00a0found on YouTube, sung by Jami Jackson at the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn) \u00a0a traditional, African-American spiritual, \u00a0is a very slow, almost plodding, and sorrow-filled testimony to how painful and long Our Lord’s walk to Calvary really was. The lyrics are very plain, but powerful:<\/p>\n

Calvary. Calvary. Calvary. Calvary. Calvary. Calvary. Surely He died on Calvary.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image courtesy of lamnee\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the song moves through its four verses, it never speeds up. I find myself wishing it would, wishing it would accelerate because it is so difficult to be held bad, to be made to remember over and over the labor and suffering of Jesus as he walked, step by agonizing step, to His death. It is exactly this, however, that I think is the most powerful lesson of this song:<\/p>\n

We who live with pain often feel our minds wanting to “speed things up,” to find relief from our suffering, to stop the pain, to get to the day when there will be more effective treatments and easier days ahead. But, we live with chronic, ongoing pain that is that tempo of “Calvary.” Slow. Deliberate. Stark. Unrelenting. And yet, we also have a ray of light that outshines this darkness: We have Jesus, and we walk with Him as He walks with us!<\/p>\n

This Good Friday, I will again be singing “Calvary.” And, as the idea of a faster song comes into my head, I’ll understand better – the longest walk, through this life, is a blessed one because Jesus walked it, too. And He is with us forever.<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Equ0RIiulOA There is a gospel song that resonates through my spirit on Good Friday. Simply named, “Calvary,” (I’ve linked one version of it that I\u00a0found on YouTube, sung by Jami Jackson at the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn) \u00a0a traditional, African-American spiritual, \u00a0is a very slow, almost plodding, and sorrow-filled testimony to how painful and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,418,95,106],"tags":[488,44,477,51,30,489,86],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-lent-2013","category-prayers","category-word-play","tag-calvary","tag-chronic-pain","tag-good-friday","tag-inspiration","tag-pain","tag-song","tag-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Pain: Good Friday and The Longest Walk - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/03\/chronic-pain-good-friday-and-the-longest-walk.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Pain: Good Friday and The Longest Walk - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Equ0RIiulOA There is a gospel song that resonates through my spirit on Good Friday. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":596,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions\/596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}