Cry of the Heart: On the Meaning of Suffering

The experience of suffering has posed a profound existential challenge to human hearts and minds throughout history. But it has become especially problematic in our time, when, with our good intentions and technological prowess, we seek to relieve the suffering of our patients at any cost, while in the end reducing the fullness of their personhood. What we have failed to grasp is that the one who suffers yearns not only for relief from pain but a response to the deep-seated questions that suffering provokes. Cry of the Heart is the late Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete's incisive and heartfelt look at what the experience of suffering reveals to each of us. He draws upon insights from literary figures such as Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, and Elie Wiesel; adds the wisdom of Saints John Paul II and Padre Pio; and engages our own everyday human experience. Albacete challenges caretakers and friends to co-suffer with those in distress, by not only treating their mental and physical symptoms, but also participating in their questions in a relationship directed to the redemptive love of the Mystery who makes us. In addition to a foreword by Albacete's close friend, Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Cry of the Heart also includes a newly-researched biographical essay about the author that provides surprising insights into the man and his work.