It is nearly impossible to do justice to this book in a brief review. The subject matter is too complex, the thought too dense, the teaching too rich. Anyone who suffers—or who feels called to stand beside those who suffer—should read it. This much can be said with conviction.
The author is Father Henri Bissonnier, professor of psychopathology and psychopedagogy at the University of Louvain and at the Institut Catholique de Paris, one of the pioneers of catechesis for the handicapped. He is a man who has known suffering intimately: he has lived through it himself, and he has devoted his entire life to those who suffer.
In this work, Bissonnier examines suffering's meaning and value—realities that are profound but difficult to understand and accept. The first section explores the connections between "pathological experience and spiritual life." He distinguishes between suffering (the lived experience arising from awareness of physical, psychological, or social harm) and pain (the harm itself). While pain must be fought with every therapeutic means available, suffering is a trial in which each person faces the question of whether and how to transform what is objectively an evil into a good.
The second section, titled "Psychopathology and Spiritual Life," opens with a crucial question: "Having said what must be said about suffering in general, how can we—without treating the problem of consciousness—ask whether and how such suffering can be experienced by the mentally ill and those with brain injury? Can spiritual life and growth, even holiness itself, be possible for them?"
Bissonnier examines diverse forms of psychopathology in search of an answer. His response is unequivocal: yes. The reader will find those pages luminous and thorough. There is in them a quality of hesitation—the author seems almost reluctant to speak of a mystery as great as suffering and its ripple through the human person. Yet he does not stop. He knows his words are awaited. They must make clear—and faithful—how each of us ought to face our own suffering and the suffering of our brothers and sisters. Faithfulness means keeping our gaze fixed ceaselessly on what is deepest in the human person: the breath of the Spirit in the reality of being God's creature, in our uniqueness and in our destiny.
- Natalia Livi, 1992