Years ago there was a trend floating around Christian circles that said we could pray and ask God to let us carry another person’s burdens. At the time, it seemed like more New Age ‘stuff’ and was rejected by most. Yet, some continued the practice and swear that it did, indeed, work. The way it played out was to ask God, “to let me carry, or at least share, the physical and/or emotional pain of another person”. Then the willing carrier would pray almost continuously for the hurting person and after a while they would begin to exhibit the very symptoms of the suffering person. Sounds pretty psychosomatic to me, how about you?
The only problem with discarding it as psychosomatic and therefore valueless, is that many times the person who was suffering originally, ceased to suffer. In other words, the practice did seem to work, and a deep lasting bond often formed between the two people involved.
Jesus did say to love one another and what greater love can we show for another person than to be willing to carry their suffering? So, maybe, the real issue is that whether it works or not, great love is demonstrated by the very willingness to carry another’s burden. After all, Jesus carried our burden of non-redemption to the cross, thus bearing our pain.