Devotional Thoughts
One of the benefits of the spiritual discipline of solitude is the potential for increased compassion or the ability to suffer with another's pain. When Paul talks about suffering with those who suffer he is talking about compassion, that supreme gift which helps make us fully human. From my perspective human survival is about having compassion. When we are confronted with a terrorist act, the breakup of a family, or a starving child what is our response? For some when confronted with helplessness we ignore the situation or seek not to feel. When we do this we deaden our capacity for love. From the Christian perspective, the cross stands as a reminder that love and suffering are two sides to the same coin.
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