as the Letter to the Hebrews (2:18; 4:15; 5:2) describes, ‘Because Jesus himself has suffered and been emptied, he is able to help those who are tempted... for we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness.'What does weakness mean here? Not the experience of sin, but almost its opposite. Weakness is the experience of a peculiar liability to suffering, a profound sense of inability both to do and to protect: an inability, even after a great effort, to perform as we should want, or achieve what we had determined, or succeed with the completeness that we might have hoped. It means openness to suffering. It means that we are unable to secure our own future, or to protect ourselves from any adversity, or to live with easy clarity and assurance, or to ward off shame, pain, or even interior anguish.

www.sacredspace.ie

God definitely knew I needed these words. : )