Surely nothing tests the faith of the believer as much as this - the sudden, frightening, violent death of those we love.There have been many attempts to reconcile intellectually such unbearable tragedies with faith in a loving God. They range from the not wholly convincing to the quite appalling. The Book of Job has both. When it says that we are mere mortals so could not begin to understand the ways of God, perhaps there is some truth in it. But the idea that human tragedies are deserved punishments for wrongdoing merely compounds the grief and pain.The ordinands I spoke with will need to take into their pastoral ministry a recognition that living by faith will sometimes mean being assailed by doubt. But they might also note this paradox of the human condition. When those most bitter and painful tragedies strike us down, faith can be a consolation - sometimes the only consolation - even as at the same time it's tested to breaking point.