The Human Condition

Right now there seems to be so much sad news coming my way.

These are the people I've been asked to pray for recently:

• A young woman of 41 with 3 children, 8, 6 and 4-woman is suffering from breast cancer
• A father raising two adopted boys-father is sick with liver cancer.
• A friend's mother beginning to show signs of Parkinson's disease
• A friend's father in the advance stages of Parkinson's disease.
• Teenage girls dealing with the year anniversary of the suicide of one of their classmates
• A man going to be executed in a few weeks
• A friend out of a job for almost two years now
• Two friends in their 30s who just had their first son and they are in serious need of a babysitter
• Friends struggling with graduate school work
• Older people who are suffering from depression

The list could go on and on-I'm sure.  It's hard but it also shows me that people do beleive in the power of prayer.  God is in that prayer and I must remember that when I struggle with all these needs and concerns.  I also must remember that suffering is part of being human.  However we can not just live with the suffering-we also have to look for signs of hope.

I see that hope in the following ways;

• People signing up to cook and prepare meals for the families suffering with cancer.
• People bringing in animals and guests to cheer up others in their depression
• Friends volunteering to babysit on certain days.
• Friend volunteering to sit with the mother and father suffering from Parkinson's.
• Counselors being with the teenage girls.
• People sending my friend job ads and giving her name as a reference
• Graduate students encouraging each other to keep plugging away.

People are good to one another when the going gets tough. We all have struggles; but we all are here to support one another too.

Sr. Jeannie Humphries, osu