What I’ve learned over ten years of priestly ministry, no matter where God sends me, one reality will always be the same. It will never change. Whenever I walk into a room full of people, or in my case, a church full of people, one thing is for certain… there will be pain in that place. Many people carry tremendous weight on their shoulders. Many of us right now have problems that are almost too heavy to carry. Maybe you even feel like your problems are so much, you can barely breathe. We see one another's faces, we smile and laugh and chat, but beneath it all, the darkness looms.

Ask yourself, whenever I walk into a room, do I add to the pain of the people or take it away? Do I make the world better or worse? Do I add to the pain of my family or help others carry it. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to add to the pain. Rather, the mission of the Christian is to bare it with them.