May 28 2006
Leaning on Each Other
Watching people you care about struggle with faith/life issues can often be worse than dealing with your own. It’s like what every parent feels when their child is ill; who of us hasn’t pleaded with God to give us the pain instead?
“To work out our own identity in God, which the Bible calls ‘working out our salvation,’ is a labor that requires sacrifice and anguish, risk and many tears. It demands close attention to reality at every moment, and great fidelity to God as He reveals Himself, obscurely, in the mystery of each new situation.”
Thomas Merton (New Seeds of Contemplation)
Each new situation. Each new stage of life. Each heartache, each soul-ache, each betrayal, each collapse, each getting up, each sudden awareness, each consolation. Each new opportunity for growth in love.
God may reveal Himself obscurely at these times, but we are His hands and feet. Let us wrap our arms around our brothers and sisters when they need us, and help them make it to a place where they can rest a while.
