Good Friday

Jesus did not come to explain suffering nor to take it away; he came to fill it with his presence.

Paul Claudel

On this Good Friday, I am holding in prayer all those for whom suffering feels unbearable. I am holding those in prayer who can't sleep at night because their anxiety is so high, their loneliness too sharp, or their fear so gripping that peace seems impossible.

I am praying for those who feel so betrayed by life that they consider killing others in retaliation.
I am praying for those who are desperate enough to steal for food to eat, or money to purchase medicine.

I am praying for those who could not return to their home after the earthquake in Italy, and those in our community who have no place to call home and no secure place to rest their head at night.

I am praying for those whose own lives, or the lives of a family member, have been turned upside down with a sudden and difficult diagnosis.

Today - even as I seek forgiveness for the times I have been unable to stay present to the pain and suffering around me, I am saying a prayer of thanksgiving that in the darkest times, when all seems lost, God is still with us.

Thanks be to God.