Well Said: When we attempt to avoid suffering, we drift into emptiness

We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.

Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi (In Hope We Were Saved)

This is a truth I know but that I forget. And then I have to be reminded when I run into that wall because I'm trying to avoid it. No one can live their lives and avoid suffering. The Catholic teachings and Christ's reality and example are what give my life (in good times and bad) full meaning.