Weekly Inspiration (11/7/24)

“To be created in the image of God means we have the capacity to mirror the same compassion as our Creator. That word ‘compassion’ comes from the Latin: com (meaning ‘with’) and passio (meaning 'suffering'). To have compassion for someone means to suffer with them. How are you called to mirror God’s compassion?”

Br. Jim Woodrum
Society of Saint John the Evangelist

Solidarity

by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

When pain seeps into the world,
when evil lurks out of the shadows,
we’re tempted to avert our eyes.
Don’t look away.

When we want to keep our inner peace,
undisturbed by the injustice out there,
we want to hide.
Don’t go away.

Dare to look on suffering with eyes of love.
Dare to face evil with a heart of hope.
Dare to remain present, lovingly present,
even when it’s hard.

For there are those who suffer more than we,
and they are our siblings, they are us, and we are them,
and we can’t separate ourselves.
To hide is to cut our heart in two.

In solidarity we stay with them.
They need our love, and our hope, and our courage.
And without them, we ourselves are not whole.
Like the women at the foot of the cross,
stay present. It is our salvation.