Can you imagine any other context where it's perfectly normal for a group of people to stare at each other's feet like we do on the Camino Bars Cafes, Al Bargas Park benches, and nearly every place between serve as foot clinics. It's kind of weird, but also comforting to share our pain. Pain can serve as an indicator that the world is not as it should be. That we were made to experience something different. When my own father passed, I remember hurting so much words, couldn't adequately express my grief, but it hurt so much precisely because we were not created to experience death. Death entered the world because a terrible choice was made to rebel so many years ago, and here we are today dealing with its consequences, and yet pain serves as a reminder that we were made to experience life without pain and death together. As pilgrims, we affirm this. Every time we share our pain, we see each other and understand, and that's the thing about Jesus too. He lived a life here on earth and knows my pain. He walked long distances and probably got blisters too. He sees me and doesn't mind my smelly blistered feet open at the local cafe because he gets me. As the writer of Hebrews points out Jesus, our high priest is able to empathize with our weaknesses because he himself has been tempted in every way like us. St. Paul suffered a lot too and helps us to understand God's compassion for us. When we experience God's compassion and comfort, we share that with each other. Here's how Paul expressed it All. Praise to the God and Father of our master, Jesus the Messiah, father of all mercy, God of all healing counsel. He comes alongside us when we go through hard times and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort. We get a full measure of that. Two second Corinthians one, three through five.