Monday of Lent V - Ritual
In our culture it often seems a mark of professionalism to be impervious to others’ pain. Sometimes this is a good thing: I would prefer that my surgeon operate with eyes not blurred with tears! Yet in some areas we have gone too far, and, along with their own woundedness, our healers deny the reality of others’ suffering. Spiritual directors are not professionals, but amateurs who aspire to reflect Christ’s love. So we take sin and pain upon ourselves, not in grandiose self-promotion, but because the assumption of such a burden is one of the risks of hospitality.
The Revered Doctor Margaret Guenther, Holy Listening, (c) 1992. Cowley Publishing. Dr. Guenther was one of my professors at The General Theological Seminary in New York City.
