September 23, 2018 - Our Gospel reading today is the narrative of Christ raising from the dead the only son of a widow in the city of Nain. The Lord of life and the crowd that follows Him collides with the procession of death at the gates of the city and we see that death can never have victory over He Who is the Resurrection and the Life. But here we also see the nature of God fully revealed as our Lord has compassion on this widow and moves to act on her behalf. St. Ephrem the Syrian teaches that "Christ became the sponge for her tears." Our God is fully acquainted with our suffering and grief. As we lament He joins Himself to our suffering and acts on our behalf as He either delivers us through or from the season of our suffering. He does so because He longs to reveal Himself to us so that we move from knowing about Him to truly knowing Him.