Wednesday of Holy Week

Readings of the Day

It’s hard work to try to help someone who is desperate, afraid, lonely, and who is also in great need of your help. The prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading complains to God about how angry, abusive and rejecting of his assistance are those to whom God has sent him--even though God has given him “a well-trained tongue” to “speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.” 

Can you identify with Isaiah? Does offering the assistance people need sometimes feels like you are insulting them? Does the built-up anger of those who are desperate sometimes get aimed at you, just because you know how helpless they feel and are trying to support them?  

If it “gets to you” sometimes, you are in good company. Both the prophet Isaiah and Jesus felt the wrath of people’s past hurts as they reached out to comfort and assist them. May you, like them, wake daily to accept the strength of God’s help. May you, like them, know that the effort of providing deeply respectful and needed insights and assistance and of helping people see and accept ways to move forward out of their pain is worth the effort. May you, like them, see that the Lord is your help and none can prove you wrong.

Sister Mary Louise Stubbs, DC, is Executive Director of the Daughters of Charity International Project Services.

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