From Kissing the Leper by Brad Jersak:

“…Jesus is saying: “You do not see me in others only because they become Christians, but because I became human. When I came in the flesh, I identified with every man, woman, and child on the planet, but especially with those who know nakedness, homelessness, poverty, imprisonment and torture. You see me in them when you remember that I literally became a peasant, a refugee, a prisoner. I live with the least, the lost, and the lowly; through them, you will meet me and come to know me, my heart and my ways.”

From Seasons of Your Heart: Prayer and Reflections by Macrina Wiederkehr:

Blessed are You Who Mourn, Consolation Shall Be Yours

What does it mean to mourn?
I asked those who were sorrowing
An old man stepped forward.

To mourn, he said, is to be given
a second heart
It is to care so deeply
that you show your ache in person.

To mourn is to be unashamed of tears
It is to be healed and broken
all in the same moment.

Blessed are you if you are so full of compassion
you see the need before it's spoken.

Blessed are you if you can offer to others
a heart that feels their sorrow
a heart that can wait quietly beside them
a heart that doesn't try to hurry the healing.

To mourn is to forget yourself for a moment
and get lost in someone else's pain
and then, to find yourself
in the very act of getting lost.

To mourn is to be an expert
in the miracle of being careful with another's pain.
It is to stand in solidarity
with the poor and persecuted of the world.
It is to stand in solidarity
with those who cannot help themselves.

To mourn is to join the song of the dying
and to be healed
by the song
and the death.

From God is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg