I have many friends wrestling with illnesses that will take their lives sooner than later. While every fiber of my being wants to begin mourning the situation, their spirits scream hope, compassion for others, and an intimate understanding of where they are going; knowing where their true home is, where the journey of this life concludes.
For some of these friends their relationship with God and Jesus has been evident way before the illness settled into their bodies. For others it was in part the illness that helped them discover/re-discover the greater relationship. Yet it is in all cases that their earthly community, especially church community and family, that makes the pain and suffering somewhat endurable.
I recognize in my own identity that I most often prefer to suffer alone. While there are times when this may be appropriate, my friends suffering has brought to light the importance of the community relationships that have been forged in my life. How these relationships, if allowed to enter close, can lift me beyond what I attempt to deal with alone. I am often reminded of this when my wife goes in for surgery, no matter how minor. When she is rolled away the emptiness and helplessness I feel. Nothing else matters in this world except her and how I can help her heal, YET there is little I can do.
What I can do, rely on my relationship with the Lord, the Master Healer. I gain great comfort placing my wife and all my friends who are ill in the constant care of my Lord and Savior. I believe this is why Judy and I have devoted ourselves to praying the Divine Mercy and Healing the Family Tree chaplets before the exposed Eucharist.
It's about a relationship for our suffering selves, our community, our nation, and the whole world.
