Making life easier, not making life harder

We should always try to relieve others from whatever seems to weigh them down, just as Christ would have done in our place. Sometimes this will mean our doing some small act of service. At times it will mean giving a word of encouragement or of hope. at others we will help someone to glance up at the Master so that he comes to see his situation in a more positive light; it may be a situation which had seemed to overwhelm him simply because up till then he had felt he must face it alone. We should think too of those aspects of our behaviour with which sometimes, without really meaning to, we make life a little harder for others ... our whims and fancies, our rash judgements, negative criticism, an lack of consideration for others, an unkind word ...

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God, vol. 4,
Ordinary Time: Weeks 13-23