I was listening to someone lecture about a friend who had received a diagnosis of cancer.
Her friend recounted feeling stunned, and being stricken by the senselessness of it.
Her friend talked about the rage that welled up within her at the utter unfairness of it, and of a bottomless and permeating despair.
The story continues that, in trying to navigate this path, she had, at some point, a sort of what-would-Jesus-do moment.
The epiphany came as her friend recalled words from the leader of her spiritual order:
In all situations, be kind.
She has cancer. She's going to die. Soon. What is she going to do?
She is going to strive at all times to be kind.
She is going to be kind to the people who give her chemo.
She is going to be kind to people who are uncomfortable around her because of her diagnosis and her mortality.
She is going to be kind to people who hurt her.
She is going to be kind to people who are hurting *with* her.
Most of all, whe is going to be kind to those precious people who fail in their attempts to be strong for her, because are already beginning to mourn her, even as she lingers with them in her last days on earth.
Even in the depths of despair, even through the tears and pain, even as this precious human life is taken from her in a way that is unspeakably senseless and bewildering cruel ...
She is going to remember the suffering of others.
She is going to try to reduce their suffering.
She is going to be kind.
This saint is several years gone, now. But I believe, in her manner of leaving us, she set an example to be followed.
Her friend recounted feeling stunned, and being stricken by the senselessness of it.
Her friend talked about the rage that welled up within her at the utter unfairness of it, and of a bottomless and permeating despair.
The story continues that, in trying to navigate this path, she had, at some point, a sort of what-would-Jesus-do moment.
The epiphany came as her friend recalled words from the leader of her spiritual order:
In all situations, be kind.
She has cancer. She's going to die. Soon. What is she going to do?
She is going to strive at all times to be kind.
She is going to be kind to the people who give her chemo.
She is going to be kind to people who are uncomfortable around her because of her diagnosis and her mortality.
She is going to be kind to people who hurt her.
She is going to be kind to people who are hurting *with* her.
Most of all, whe is going to be kind to those precious people who fail in their attempts to be strong for her, because are already beginning to mourn her, even as she lingers with them in her last days on earth.
Even in the depths of despair, even through the tears and pain, even as this precious human life is taken from her in a way that is unspeakably senseless and bewildering cruel ...
She is going to remember the suffering of others.
She is going to try to reduce their suffering.
She is going to be kind.
This saint is several years gone, now. But I believe, in her manner of leaving us, she set an example to be followed.
It's so easy to look at the outrages around us and to despair. It's so easy to become focused on our own suffering. It's so easy to become emotionally exhausted - "weary in well-doing."
But, my prayer is, no matter what befall, and as Almighty God gives me strength; may I in all things remember to be kind.
#myreligioniskindness
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
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