A Lighter Way Week 23: When Love Is All We Can Offer.
Oct 24, 2026A short while ago, I had the privilege of attending a retreat where, in a small group session, I was reminded of an encounter I once had with a patient under hospice care. At the time, I was a chaplain working for that Hospice and a request came to me from a patient who had expressed interest in spiritual care.
It was my custom at the time to talk to the visiting nurses or social workers regarding the patient’s capacity for a visit and perhaps a little bit of information about the patient’s religious or personal background.
What I was told came as a shock to me.
The patient was dying of AIDS. This was a time not too long ago when AIDS, like an invisible plague, swept across our nation and took many in the prime of their lives. But there was more to this young man’s story. He was an unrepentant pedophile and under house arrest for his crimes. I have to confess, but I really wasn’t sure how this visit would go.
A caregiver opened the door to a modest dwelling and led me into a back room where the patient was lying in a hospital bed. He looked emaciated. As I approached the bed, I could see sorrow filling the depths of his eyes. At that point, I really didn’t know what to do or say. Is there anything we really can say in times such as these?
There was a chair next to the bed, for which I was grateful. It allowed me to get close and eye to eye with this most unfortunate man. I wish I could tell you how I opened my conversation with him, but the years have dimmed that memory. What I can tell you is why God had called me to visit him that day. It was to accept him fully without judgment, without condemnation, without explanation. It was simply a moment of love.
You see, love, in moments such as this, can become as tangible and necessary as breath itself. Love is the life chord that connects us to one another.
Today, as I reflect back on that visit, my thoughts have taken me to Saint Francis’s encounter with the leper. On that day, an outcast received the holy kiss of the divine on his lips. It, too, was a moment without judgment, without condemnation, and without any needed explanation. It was simply a moment of love.
I am no Saint Francis, and I have to confess that in that encounter so long ago with that young man, I still harbored judgment in my heart. But the only thing I shared with him that day was love.
We are imperfect beings, each and every one of us. We know what is right and fail to do it. We know what is wrong and do it anyway. Sometimes, the best that we can do is to act out what we know is right and pray that, in time, everything else will follow.
Follow love wherever it takes you, and you will always arrive where you need to be.
The Practice
Bring to mind someone you love and hold dear. As you think of them, try to hold them in your heart in a deep state of blessing. Then, bring to mind someone you know only casually. As you think of them, in your heart try and hold them in a deep state of blessing. Next, bring to mind someone for whom you have ill feelings. As you think of them, try to hold them in your heart in a deep state of blessing. Finally, bring yourself to mind, and in your heart, hold yourself in that same deep state of blessing.
The Prayer
Gracious One, lover of my soul, draw near to me today. Remind me that you are the Holy Word of Love to each of us, no matter how we have lived or what we may have done. Even in my great need, even when thoughts only condemn my past actions, let your love wash over me like a living stream of water in a dry and parched land. Fill my heart with the abundance of your love so that my actions in this world will only bring that same love to everyone I encounter. Let me live in your love, peace and mercies. Amen
This twenty-third reflection is by Chuck Wester, graduate of WTC's School of Spiritual Direction.
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