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Daily reflections for Lenten Easter, written by Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI.

I recently visited a friend dying of cancer. Her 50 year old body, once remarkably beautiful, was grossly disfigured, wasted, smelled of death, and like the face of the suffering servant in Isaiah, was as much an object of revulsion as of attraction.

A proud spirit. She lay humble, embarrassed, humiliated in her body. But God lay with her in that humiliation, shining forth, revealing secrets, revealing what was revealed on the cross.

Whenever we see someone who is unable to protect herself or himself against pain, especially the type of pain that humbles and humiliates, we are witnessing the humiliation of God in the world. And if we have the eyes of faith, we will know that we stand at that place where the deeper secrets of heaven are revealed.

We see it in an adult body ravaged by age, handicap or terminal disease.

We see this too, whenever we see anyone who, for whatever reason, is perceived by others as naive, unattractive, stupid, or somehow an embarrassment to himself or herself.

To know God, one must begin to grasp the humiliation of God in this world.

God shines brightly in our humiliations, unafraid to be embarrassed in this world.