Blessing of Each Other

Today's reflection reminds us of the famous line from English poet John Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions that goes: "No man is an island." Despite the wide spread of the concept of self-independence, no one is really and truly alone. We need other people in our lives one way or another. It could be for the produce we use to cook our food or the clothes we wear or some other thing, no one is totally independent of other human beings.

The same goes in our faith. As Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman said, "We all suffer for each other, and gain by each other's suffering; for man never stands alone here...here he is a social being, and goes forward to his long home as one of a large company."

When we realize this, we learn to view others as blessings. Even the hard-to-love kind are blessings in disguise. With this in mind, let us pray:

Thank you, Jesus, for all those who are a blessing to me. Please bless them a hundredfold. Amen.