Thursday’s Reflection
CARE is a strange word. It is used in many different ways and does not always communicate the essence of care as I wish to speak of it. For example, if we hear someone say, “I will take care of that guy!” we may fear there is an attack coming. Or if we are asked, “What do you want, coffee or tea?” and we reply, “Oh, I don’t care,” we see a very casual attitude to the choice offered us.
But real care is not ambiguous. . . . The core meaning of care — to lament, to cry out with — is first of all to “be with” the person who is suffering. To care means therefore to hear the cry and to be connected with the pain, the confusion, the loneliness, the isolation, and the sense of being forgotten before we need to “do” something about it. And to care is also to recognize how these same laments exist in our own hearts. To care includes understanding, mourning, lamenting, and identifying with those who are vulnerable and feeling weak.
- A Spirituality of Caregiving
From pages 48-49 of A Spirituality of Caregiving, by Henri J. M. Nouwen, edited by John S. Mogabgab. Copyright © 2011 The Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Is there someone God is calling you to care for this day? Share your reflections.
Today’s Scripture Reading
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