Month: May 2025

“From my point of view, God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us.”

This quote is by Pope Francis, who was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013 until 2025.  He was the first Pope from a Latin American country, and he was known for his concern for the poor, migrants, and refugees, his emphasis on God’s mercy, and his humility, as well as for many other qualities.

Pope Francis’ description of God as the light that illuminates the darkness causes me to think about the gift of faith.  For having faith helps us as we take the steps of our earthly journey and gives meaning to that journey.  The light that illuminates also brings to mind the word “enlightened”—being able to recognize truth and to remember the good that is in others.

His words “even if it does not dissolve it,” referring to the darkness, reminds us of the realty that life will always include challenges, times of doubt, not having the clarity about certain things that we would like to have, and wondering why certain realities are as they are, including the presence of evil in the various forms it takes.

And Pope Francis’ words “a spark of divine light is within each of us” reminds us that our Creator created each one of us as a unique human being and gave us, and continues to give us, life for as long as we are on our earthly journeys and beyond.  That divine light is also our inner voice who gives us guidance each day–the guidance that comes to us through our dreams, synchronicities, unanticipated happenings, our intuition, and in other ways.  Knowing that divine light is within us is a reassuring source of hope.

I am thankful for Pope Francis’ words and for all that he did to make our world a better place for many people during his earthly journey.

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”

This quote is by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, author, and resistance leader against Nazism.  He was imprisoned and later killed when he was 39 years old for his involvement in the resistance.

When I first read Bonhoeffer’s quote, I had the thought that his words are a profound way of describing compassion.  For when we are compassionate, we recognize that every person we encounter has experienced and/or is experiencing things we don’t know about, and those experiences often involved a level of suffering.  Suffering has many degrees and takes many forms, including what might be termed milder forms such as being disappointed or realizing a person who we trusted is no longer trustworthy, to more serious and persistent forms such as being physically abused, having chronic pain, or struggling with depression.  These and many other forms of suffering naturally affect a person’s personality, the ways they interact with others, and their worldview.

When I read Bonhoeffer’s words “in light of what they do or omit to do,” I thought about how we tend to make judgments about others after seeing them do a certain behavior or by noticing something someone hasn’t done that we think that person should have done.  But these observations are just part of what we know about the person.  There is far more that we do not know, including what they have suffered or are presently suffering.  When we judge others, we are doing the opposite of being compassionate toward them.  Also, when we judge others, we go against the teachings of many world religions, including Christianity where Jesus said “Do not judge” and reminded us to instead look at ourselves and see our own faults.

I recently saw a photo of a child in tears because her parents were being deported.  The woman and man had lived in the United States for a few years, had jobs, and had taken the steps to become citizens, which is often a long process. The person who had posted the photo said it made him ashamed of our country.  I believe many Americans would also disagree with how these people were being treated.  This type of treatment, including them being denied due process, was an example of lack of compassion at a systems level.  Too often compassion is lacking not only by individuals but also by such systems, including certain laws, legal processes, and political agendas.

It is concerning that the virtue of compassion is not considered to be more essential by some of us.  People who perform compassionate acts are sometimes ridiculed, including on social media, by certain news organizations, and in films.  Just as with all of the values that matter, each of us individually needs to try to grow in compassion, not only because it matters to our own soul work, but also so that others are influenced.  This is especially important for children to see so that they too will be compassionate as adults.

I’m thankful for Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s thought-provoking words and for the other ways he showed wisdom and courage when he was on his earthly journey.