God is present even and especially in suffering, in failure, even in death. The clever and the robust experience weakness and vulnerability eventually when scientific and rational measures are no match in the struggle with the suffering of the body, the mind, and the spirit. It is often in experiences of powerlessness or raw suffering that we are able to lean into the God who is to be found there in the deepest movement of contemplation at the edge of mystical union.
MICHAEL DOWNEY The Vocation of the Lay Theologian as Baptismal Witness, Workshop Session 2.1, 6/23/15
