‘All life demands struggle’, said Pope Paul VI. There is something prophetic in the notion of human struggle, in affirming that facing difficulties is essential for human potential and development. We experience struggle in so many aspects of our lives, in broken relationships, in ambition, in accidents and disease, in lost loves, unrequited and forbidden loves, sickness and death, and unfulfilling jobs and failed dreams. We are struggling for or towards something: this gives struggle a hint of hope and potential, the sense that the present pain – physical or emotional – the present injustice will pass, will end by and through human efforts.