Would you like to take my place, Brother?

I was watching over an old priest in the hospital one evening when i heard that he was always complaining to the doctors and nurses about their cruelty. I heard that this priest would try to remove the intravenous hose attached to his body. So the doctors and nurses decided to tie his two hands on the side of the bed to stop him to cause further damage and inconvenience.

One time, while i was scheduled to stay with him in the hospital, he was really complaining and yelling "they're cruel Lord, they are cruel!!! Please help me Lord." He would repeat those words looking above the ceiling with his tears flowing from his sad old eyes. I was beside him watching him and when he saw me, he asked me to release the tie on his arms. He said that he was really tortured by what the people are doing to him. "They are cruel. They are cruel," he repeated.

Out of pity and desperation, I tried to comfort him. And so I said to him "Father, it's fine. You'll be fine. I know that in your suffering God is also suffering with you." then suddenly he looked at me straight in the eye and said, "would you like to take my place, brother?" I was speechless. I didn't know what to respond with his question. "Would you like to take my place, Brother?" these words were like swords in my heart and mind. I realized that i was actually spiritualizing his suffering. I was never comforting him actually.

The lesson in the story is this: it is very important not to skip our sufferings, emotions and immediately jump to spiritualizing or moralizing. Our experiences serve some purpose not to be belittled or abandoned. If we can apply that to our own lives, then that would be easier for others.

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