Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

I was reading a story not long ago about a mother having difficulty with her son. He had severe ADHD and had been struggling immensely in school. She was at her wit’s end and meeting with a family therapist. She was pouring her heart out and trying to get answers — trying to get some clue as to how to “fix” him and make the situation better.

The therapist asked her a question that disarmed her. She gently asked the mother, “What do you thank God for about your son?”

“Next time you pray for Josiah,” the counselor suggested, “try thanking God for what’s good and right about him. It will change your perspective and help you understand him.”

The mother said, “When we give thanks, specifically, for the good we see in our children, we begin to see who they truly are. Those parts of our children that infuriate us, that break our heart – we realize that they don’t define them, nor do they define our relationship with them. We begin to view our children through the lens of compassion rather than frustration.”

This lens of compassion can be the way we view the world — the way we view not just the children in our lives but the way we view our friends, partners, colleagues, and more. That lens of compassion is at the heart of viewing one another with the loving eyes with which Christ sees us.

May we look to see with the eyes of compassion in the week ahead — thanking God for the chance to look with love.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert