I concur with my good friend and identify with such feelings. I have seen the stories on BBC about the devastation in Leyte and Samar and beyond and am just so moved and so feel for these lovely people who are once again suffering so much. The challenge becomes - what to do? I shared with another friend in an email during the week that
"I (found) it heart wrenching to see the stories on the Philippines post-typhoon. Such devastation and suffering! How do the people keep going? I suppose they have no choice and their faith keeps rising up. I am going to a mass for the disaster victims on Friday ..."
As people of faith, prayer in solidarity with these people is a key response that cannot be undervalued nor underrated. Neither, as people of faith, should we use this key response as an excuse for not doing anything practical - no matter how small or insignificant we may think our effort is. We do what we can and we act on both fronts - prayer and action in solidarity. Both ways of responding matter and our response on both fronts matters and is important. Prayer and action go together. That is what our Christian faith is about.
I see the Filipinos themselves teaching us this with their prayers and their undertaking all sorts of acrtions around the world on their part to help in whatever practical way. So maybe a prayer and a donation is what we need to do, and keep on praying.
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