Visit

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.  James 1:27

C.S Lewis famously said that it is easier to pray for a bore than to visit one.  To donate money or resources can cost us less.  To donate time and patience costs us much more.  It requires we get personal.  But as James points out, the visit is vital.  

People in affliction are difficult company.  They bring out uncomfortable feelings in those around them.  They stir up feelings that make us uncomfortable with ourselves.  Think of the panhandlers you pass at a stoplight.  Instinct prompts us to look away.

Afflicted people are often emotionally borderless--they bleed their emotions onto those around them, threatening to pull us under and into the chaos of their lives.  

By necessity, they are often self-centered.  So consumed by their own pain, they can be oblivious to the pain of others.   

So, why would anyone want to enter into that?  It feels like self-sabotage.  Why stop?  Why bother?

Because James bothered to clarify--religion that is pure and undefiled is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.