This video is absolutely heartbreaking. This poor dog, who has been treated with violence its whole life, is treated with compassion for the first time and the resulting sound is that of soul-wrenching anguish. You can hear the poor dog’s terror from the moment she starts to pet it, but then — once it realizes that no pain is coming — the pup begins to sound like it’s sobbing, like all it ever wanted was some love.
This video brings to mind the quote from Pope Benedict XVI, that the primary message that every human being needs to hear is, “It is good that you exist.” His words on compassion were always quite striking.
The sum of human life does not strike a balance if we omit God; in that case, only contradictions remain. It is not enough, then, to believe somehow theoretically that there is a God; we must regard him as the most important element in our life. He must be everywhere. And our fundamental relationship to him must be love. That can often be very difficult. It can happen, for instance, that one individual has many illnesses… poverty makes life difficult for another. Yet a third loses the persons on whose love his whole life depends… And there is a great danger that the individual will become embittered and will say: God can certainly not be good; if he were, he would not treat me this way. Such a revolt against God is very understandable; often it seems almost impossible to accept God’s will. But one who yields to this rebellion poisons his whole life. The poison of saying “No,” of being angry with God and with the world, corrodes the individual from within.
We are so grateful that this video has a happy ending. That little pup looks like it’s on the way to a happy life, with a friend who makes it clear that it is good this doggie exists.
And today we celebrate...