“We are one body, one body in Christ;
and we do not stand alone.
We are one body, one body in Christ;
and he came that we might have life.”
I think of and pray for those who are going through tough times,
beset by their more than fair share of life’s troubles.
May they not forget that life is meant to be beautiful and a celebration.
They may have seen nothing but pain and problems,
that they may feel so detached from what life is meant to be.
They may even begin to feel that the rules and rewards of goodness
do not apply to them at all.
I am thinking of and praying for the terminally ill
who are bedridden and totally dependent on others.
May they find strength and consolation in their suffering.
May they be fortified against feelings of being useless
and being a burden to those around them.
May grace flow into their hearts and fill them with hope.
I think of and pray for people eaten by anger and hatred.
Probably because of fear and ignorance,
they would destroy the very body that keeps them alive.
They would harm and destroy others
believing they are threats or out to do them harm.
May they realize that anger and hatred wound and kill
both the victims and the perpetrators.
I think of and pray for those who have lost their zest for life.
There is beauty around them but they fail to see.
There is music in the air but they cannot hear.
There is so much to relish but their senses have become dull.
Some have brought it on themselves.
Others have been unfortunate to have people around them
who suck out the life juices from them completely.
Life is not easy and and we often walk in the dark.
But even in the darkest night, there is still a light that shines.
And the paths we trod, Somebody else have trodden before
and emerged victorious.
He gathers us from the darkness into His light.
He snatches us from the clutches of death into His new life.
He tells us we are not alone.
Where two or more of us gather in His name,
He is there and makes us one in His Body.
We are one body, one body in Christ.
The pain and suffering of everyone is my own,
thus I try to share my peace and joy.
The loneliness and emptiness of others I also feel,
thus I share whatever I have of happiness and fulfillment.
The wounds and the hurts in other hearts resonate in my own,
thus I never belittle nor trivialize their depression.
Because at the intersection of our sufferings and our joys,
at the junction of our emptiness and our fullness,
at the convergence of our hurts and our delights
is the cross that binds us together and make us one.