Dear Friends,

The ongoing course of the coronavirus pandemic continues to raise new as well as perennial questions about life and the meaning of suffering. Reflections on those questions along with answers from many of the world’s great spiritual teachers may be found in The Way of Suffering: Readings for an Enlightened Life, the latest in an Orbis series edited by Michael Leach, James, T. Keane, and Doris Goodnough. As the editors note, this volume might well be read as the first volume in the series (with volumes on Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Kindness), since the subject is so rooted in universal experience. Though suffering may show its face in dramatic, global events, it touches each one of us intimately, and how we cope with it and learn its difficult lessons is one of the prime challenges of human existence.

            Contributors range from Henri Nouwen, Richard Rohr, Pema Chödrön, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joyce Rupp, and Carlo Carretto, to Eckart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, and Stephen Colbert. Along with lesser-known companions, their stories and wisdom drawn from personal experience, offer consolation, insight, and tools for enlightenment.