Someone else's suffering

The last few of my posts except one have been about enduring suffering but what about when you notice someone else's suffering.  Yesterday my sister-in-law suffered a stroke she was rushed three hours to have emergency surgery in Pittsburgh.  Many are lifting their hearts and prayers for her and her family.  What is your reaction to others suffering?

In reading the book "Consoling the Heart of Jesus"  the author discusses our reaction to others who are suffering.  Of course we could do nothing, thinking of no-one but ourselves.  We all know people like this they see people hurting everyday and are indifferent or just  their hearts have been so hardened.  While others have a compassionate heart to those who are suffering.  Jesus told the mystic Saint Faustina this:

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: - by deed, the second - by word, the third - by prayer.  In theses three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me.  By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.


If your not sure what to do in deed, word or prayer go to the Holy Spirit and ask.  You will find the strength to go into action through the Spirit.  Remember to if at all possible do something compassionate.  Most people will not be able to listen to our words while suffering, they won't be able to hear our prayers but they will be able to see our deeds.

One example of this is found in the Gospels where Jesus is mobbed while in a home and friends carry a sick man and dig a hole in the roof to lower him to Jesus to heal.  The healing is amazing of course but think of the deed of those friends when they carried him and lowered him through the roof.  They represented Jesus even before the man met Jesus themselves.

This came true for me a little over three years ago when I was in a Pittsburgh hospital, three hours from home, recovering from a Whipple surgery. Six of my friends from my mens prayer group showed up on Wednesday the day we usually met and came to visit me and pray with me.  Now that is deed.  They brought me face to face with Jesus.