Readings: First Kings 17:17-24; Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13; Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-17;

The lesson of this encounter between Jesus and the widow of Nain is so simple that we may miss it: God cares. “Do not cry,” Jesus tells her, as if to say, “I can’t bear to see you suffer like this. Let me help. ”This woman had lost her husband, now she has lost her only son – she is alone, suffering without hope. And then she meets Jesus, and he simply can’t let her suffer alone, and so he performs a miracle. No one asked him to perform this miracle; he took the initiative to intervene.

The Christian God is not a God who remains aloof: he does not keep his distance; he cares too much about us, in spite of our sinfulness, weakness, and brokenness. This is the message of every page of the Gospels, from Christmas to Calvary: God cares; he has compassion on us; he suffers with us, giving meaning to our pain.

Sometimes we feel like we are suffering alone, as if God doesn’t care. Sometimes Christ seems far away, because he doesn’t give us the miracle we long for. But we can’t let those feelings deceive us. This widow did not know about Calvary. She had never seen a crucifix. The only way Christ had to show her his compassion was through a miracle.

But we have seen Calvary. We know to what depths God’s compassion has gone. And we can always go to the Tabernacle, where we find the Eucharist, the living memorial of Calvary – the revelation of God’s unfathomable compassion, his “suffering with” each and every one of us.

Truly, we never have to suffer alone. And so, when we choose to do so anyway, we not only increase our own pain, but we double Christ’s as well, by turning a blind eye to his cross.