Comforting Others with the Comfort We Ourselves Have Received

Why is it that Mother Teresa could stand up before crowds of thousands and repeat simple New Testament phrases and seemingly pious clichés, and still blow people away? She didn't say anything new. She assured us that Jesus loves us and that, as sons and daughters of God, we are all loved, and we have to love Jesus's poor. Yet people walked out renewed, transformed and converted. She was not a priest or minister. She was not well educated. Her authority came from her lifestyle, her solidarity with human suffering, and thus, her pure goodness. Loving servanthood and foundational surrender are the true basis for teaching authority in the church, much more than title, vestment, roles or office. Such lives have the living authority of Jesus himself. I need no special ordination or public validation. Jesus says to Simon Peter that he, and we ourselves, must first "be sifted like wheat" and only then are we in a position "to recover and in turn strengthen others." Such undergoing is the seminary that finally matters and that changes others’ lives. It was Jesus' essential and first recovery program. –Richard Rohr

What a powerful truth to embrace and embody when we are in recovery! God is not done with you; He is preparing you in the midst of this trial so that you will be a powerful voice for His redemptive love. You’ll be able to look another in the eyes and say, “I’ve been where you are; I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered! That’s why I trust in Jesus!” You’ll know, firsthand, that He never fails; that He never leaves you nor forsakes you. You’ll be able, as the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, “… to comfort those who are in affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” May God minister to you … and then through you, to others!