One of the most precious and indispensable needs you and I have is to be able to have at least one person in the world who truly understands us. How often have we known folks who try to be such a one for us, but we know they just don't understand.  Surely there are many of you here today who carry great burdens of worry or anxiety or fear. Just the words job or spouse or child or cancer or finances or death bring up such an overwhelming baggage of emotions. (And for some of you, you are already gone and will hear little of the rest of the sermon because of one of those words I just used.)  We are a people who need one who knows and understands. 

I read recently of one who does not understand. In the December 2000 issue of the U.S. Catholic magazine there was the following article:

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