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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Thought for the Day # 17 – Wednesday April 1st, 2020

“You’re Not Useless!”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are not useless!

There may be among you, among us, during this confinement, some
who are alone in their home or their apartment, or even with others, who are
feeling useless. We see the challenges to overcome, the work to do. We want
to help, we want to do something, yet we cannot do anything. How are
we going to get through the suffering and danger of this pandemic while also
overcoming this feeling of uselessness that may come over us?

There is a Christian, Cardinal Vặn Thuận, who has also overcome
isolation. He was in prison for thirteen years of which nine years were in a cell
in solitary confinement. Afterwards, he gave testimony about what he had
found most difficult as being the feeling of being useless. He wanted to help,
he wanted to help the Church, he wanted to help others, he wanted to help
society but he could not do anything. He was isolated, alone in his cell, with
this feeling of helplessness and uselessness which weighed so very heavily on
him.

This is where he began to gaze at Jesus Christ crucified. He looked at
Jesus in so many facets, but he came to pause at Jesus on the cross. There, as he
was contemplating Jesus on the cross, he saw that Jesus was also helpless and
even at the same time was carrying our own incapacities! This was Jesus, who
was not giving a sermon on a mountain, he was not healing the sick, but who
was on the cross, helpless. Yet it was on the cross that Jesus accomplished the
most for all of humanity, for each and every one of us.

So, he began to offer up his uselessness or rather his feeling, his
impression of uselessness, he began offering it up to Jesus on the cross, to
Jesus crucified. And this opened his heart to hope. He became a man of hope.
He became able, blessed if you like, with the gift of hope throughout the time
he was still in the darkness of isolation. He grew in hope.

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 28