… I looked, and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Rightly He would say: “I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people there was none with me.

I speak of the Savior’s solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation. To all such, I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. In short it can include all of us at various times in our lives. This group can find within its broad circumference a soldier far from home, a missionary in those first weeks of homesickness, or a father out of work, afraid the fear in his eyes will be visible to his family. Our empathy embraces wives forsaken by their husbands, husbands whose wives have walked away, and children bereft of one or the other of their parents-or both. These might include those longing to be married, those who have lost a spouse, and those who have lost-or have never been blessed with-children.

Brothers and sisters, my Easter-season message today is intended for everyone, but it is directed in a special way to those who are alone or feel alone or, worse yet, feel abandoned. Thank you, Sister Thompson, and thanks to the remarkable women of this Church.

R humankind download