Midweek Message October 8, 2025

There are some weeks when the world just feels heavy. Maybe you’ve felt that too, scrolling through headlines, watching another story of rights eroded or dignity denied. It can feel like compassion itself is under siege, and yet, it’s in these moments that compassion becomes not just a feeling, but a practice.

As I write this, I’m baking bread, partly because I needed a break from the news cycle, and partly because it reminds me what it means to be human. Mixing flour, yeast, salt, and water, waiting, kneading, smelling the wonderful aroma of bread baking, these are quiet acts of care. Sometimes compassion looks exactly like that: small, steady gestures that reconnect us to life. And sometimes it looks like stepping into the fire, speaking up, showing up, standing beside those whose voices are being silenced.

Maybe the work of compassion is learning to do both. To rest, and to rise. To hold space for sorrow and for hope. To tend to the world around us without losing our own humanity in the process.

Wherever you find yourself this week, baking bread, marching for justice, or simply trying to keep your heart open, may you feel the warmth of connection, the courage of love, and the reminder that compassion, in all its forms, is sacred work.