Good morning…
I have been slowly walking beside a grieving friend as God tenderly cares for her faithful family flock. Today we will celebrate together the life of one special twenty-eight year old woman, a vibrant young woman who has shared God’s living light with so many in our community.
As God prepares my heart to walk in step with those who are deeply grieving, I read over again the Henri Nouwen devotional from yesterday.
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DAILY MEDITATION | JUNE 21, 2021 Your Suffering is my Suffering by Henri Nouwen
Compassion means to become close to the one who suffers. But we can come close to another person only when we are willing to become vulnerable ourselves. A compassionate person says: “I am your brother; I am your sister; I am human, fragile, and mortal, just like you. I am not scandalized by your tears, nor afraid of your pain. I, too, have wept. I, too, have felt pain.” We can be with the other only when the other ceases to be “other” and becomes like us.
This, perhaps, is the main reason that we sometimes find it easier to show pity than compassion. The suffering person calls us to become aware of our own suffering. How can I respond to someone’s loneliness unless I am in touch with my own experience of loneliness? How can I be close to handicapped people when I refuse to acknowledge my own handicaps? How can I be with the poor when I am unwilling to confess my own poverty?
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” – RUTH 1:16 (NIV)
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Compassion means coming close to the one who suffers. God calls us to walk slowly beside, experiencing our own vulnerable needs as we suffer with the deep needs of others. What an eye opening question: “How can I respond to someone’s loneliness, someone’s handicap, someone’s poverty unless I am in touch with these same experiences within myself?”
I understand why we sometimes find it easier to show pity than compassion. Fragility. Tears. Pain. We can truly “be with” the other only when the other ceases to be “other” and becomes like us. It is easier to show pity to the poor, lonely, handicapped “other” than to compassionately connect, to suffer with someone who is suffering.
How might we become less afraid to unearth the hidden treasures embedding in our own suffering? Perhaps we might follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who was willing to become vulnerably human like us so that we could become vulnerable with all humans, the lonely, the handicapped, the poor. In compassion God mysteriously comes to us, giving us everything we need. I will give you hidden treasures and wealth tucked away in secret places; I will reveal them to you. Then you will know that I am the Eternal, the God of Israel, who calls you by name (Isaiah 45:3, VOICE).
…Sue…
P.S. I asked my friend if I could blog about the life and loss of this amazing young woman. “Of course, you can post anything about Eliza. That’s so sweet. She helped so many in their journey of cancer and I’m sure your post will touch many as well. Cardinals are special in our family. When I see one I always think it’s my dad, the beloved ‘Papa’ whom Eliza will be buried beside.”
To learn more about the cheerful, exuberant life of Eliza, please touch upon this link.
