Homeless Man in Paris - Image via Wikipedia
Something that Archbishop Chaput said in a recent homily has stuck with me for the past week. He was speaking about the Christian virtue of charity – in particular, to care for the poor.
He spoke eloquently of our Christian duty to care for the poor because Jesus calls us to do by the many examples in the ministry of Jesus, documented in the Synoptic Gospels, where he cared for the poor.
Today’s Gospel reading is one such story of the compassion of Christ Jesus:
“Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.”
In response Jesus gave the authority to his 12 disciples to drive out unclean spirits, cure every disease and every illness.
Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.”
Jesus was so moved by his own compassion that he commissioned his 12 disciples to show that same compassion because people were desperate for help.
The same desperation exists today and I wonder if I am doing enough to help?
Prior to my conversion to Catholicism, I was put off by beggars. My reaction to them was judgement and rejection, not compassion. I justified my reaction because I did not understand the complex reality of homelessness. Also, I was afraid of the truth – that anyone could end up homeless and begging for food to keep them alive. As a result of my ignorance, I never gave money to someone who begged for it.
I never showed charity.
It was Brother Larry in my RCIA class who turned me around. He ran a soup kitchen and encouraged me to work in it. Volunteering on there, I did my best to get over my fears and prejudices and slowly came to understand that someone who has lost his possessions, his place to live, his self-respect is someone who needs love and a place where they can feel safe.
Yet the homeless are met with derision and called ‘bums’.
I was also shocked to the point of tears when young families with young children would come to eat. Prior to this experience I rationalized that homeless was ’caused’ by something – that the homeless person is at fault and therefore does not deserve compassion for their situation or in that ‘bailing them out’, it would eliminate their self-obligation.
I am not proud of these sentiments. They are deplorable and embarrassing to admit publicly. I share them because I know many people think this way and this prevents us from fulfilling our Christian duty of charity.
As I watched Brother Larry work the room at the soup kitchen, serve food, smile and engage everyone I began to realize that I was stupid and foolish. I started to imagine how I would feel if I had to beg on the street. That it must cause feelings of shame in the person who comes to ask complete strangers for a handout. I realized that few homeless people are there by choice.
Ultimately, I came to realize that I am not to judge someone for their life circumstances or choices. Jesus did not show selective compassion and in today’s reading, explicitly told the 12 disciples that:
“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
I learned to show compassion as I began to give money to anyone on the street who asks me for it. I make sure that I look the person in the eyes during this exchange because I see a brief moment of relief in them. I cannot think of one time when the look returned was anything but thanksgiving.
There are times when I say ‘no’ because at that moment my heart is hardened. I end up feeling awful when I turn someone away because now I know better because I remember Matthew 25:40:
”Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
There are other times when I do not have money. A few times, I have actually gone to the ATM, taken out money and come back to give it to the person. One time, I gave someone money and that put him over for the day so he left his roadside post. These moments make my heart feel full.
Being face-to-face with someone who has lost many worldly fortunes and comforts is a reminder of our own good fortune. I pray for those in need of charity and compassion and that I will not turn them away, even if my heart feels hardened at that moment. I pray for the grace to see Christ in their faces and remember that I can love them.
Post-Script 12/09/2011. Patrick Madrid (awesome) put up a link to ‘Change for a dollar?’ I thought it was relevant to the comments so I added it here:
Today’s Notes
- Day 7 of Advent
- Today we remember of St. Francis Xavier.
- Watch a video reflection on today’s scripture readings.
- Pray the Rosary!
- Follow me on Twitter: @cinhosa
- Find me on Facebook
Related articles
- Compassion (thebondsarebroken.com)
- Homeless crisis as 400 youths a day forced to live on the streets of Britain (mirror.co.uk)
- Statement from the Philadelphia Homeless Encampment-cnbnews.net (gloucestercitynews.net)
- The Compassion of Jesus … (cmcsarchchicago.wordpress.com)
- Impressions of a Homeless Meeting (kymkemp.com)
- She Finally “Saw” the Homeless (blogher.com)
Tagged: Catholic, Christianity, daily reflection, postaday2011, religion
Your compassionate compulsions by you conversion to Catholicism is commendable. But I am chary about giving cash to the hard up as it can supplement feeding their addictions or be a con. When some mendicants are pointed to nearby feeding centers, that is not the fix that they desired.
The deprivation for those down on their luck is not simply material but also in self worth and spiritual. As (Blessed) Mother Theresa of Calcutta said: “We shall never know all of the good things that a simple smile will do.” http://wp.me/p1SrDW-5a
DCBARROCO – Love the alliteration in your first sentence!
I agree that panhandlers often may be con artists or even more often, addicted to a substance. My experience with addicts has led me to understand that they need just as much compassion as someone who through no fault of his own lost a job and ended up on the street.
To your point about deprivation – I agree. The addicts that I know (and love) became addicts because they attempt to full a spiritual hole (or more often a wound) with a substance – food, sex, gambling, drinking, drugs, people-pleasing, you name it. Before I was around addicts, I sat in judgement – as in ‘why can’t you get over it?’ The reason is that by definition addicts can no longer control themselves. The way I see it, an addict not in recovery is showing outward physical signs of their inner spiritual turmoil.
I also know that successful long-term recovery from addiction requires God. Few people can ‘white knuckle it’ for the rest of their lives and like the rest of us, hopefully give into the idea that we are incomplete without God but we are 100% whole with him. Therefore no worldly goods will make us complete.
I also agree that providing money to a shelter or food bank provides more assurance of its use for goodwill. However, the people in shelters and food banks are often also addicts. They just choose not to beg on the street (yet).
Good comment and thank you for engaging!
Good post Cinhosa. Let me relate an experience I had. We are a very small community here and one of the neighbors house was burned. He is a dope addict. We have a little country store where all of us go and I was in there and asked about this man. I asked if he had anything to eat, what happened, did he lose everything etc….
I asked also if he was in the house at this time, to which I was told yes. So I told the lady who owned the store if he wanted something to eat, to feed him and put on my tab. To which others in the store replied,”You are not going to feed that dope head are you?” To which my reply was, “I do not care if he is a dope head or not and do you make my living? If you do not then it is none of your business what I do with my money.” I also went and gave the man some money.
So a lot of times we do not give and be generous to others because we judge by character and appearance. What many fail to see, we do not give to that person, we are giving to the Lord regardless of what is going on in that person’s life. We give to be obedient and show others the compassion of Jesus. If we are giving for any other reason, then we are giving for the wrong reasons. If we do not give at all, then there is something wrong with our spiritual walk. God Bless, SR
SR
Good for you in standing up for the person who needs compassion on love. I am not surprised by the reaction of some at the community store. This is how I would have reacted to, prior to my experience with family members and addiction.
When not in recovery, addicts are hard to love because they are in love with the substance and NOTHING comes before the substance.
It makes me think about the many times when I put something in front of my love for God. I put him second every time I deny his will for my life. So, I guess addicts and non-addicts may have more in common than at first glance.
Also, to follow the lead of DCBarroco and reference Mother Teresa: “Each one of them (the orphans) is Jesus in disguise”.
Substitute your favorite down-trodden group for “them” and repeat.
I love that Cinhosa, “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” Was Mother Teresa great or what???? I will keep that one forever, especially the next time I am confronted with a “country store.” Thanks so much for that one. I also like DC’s comment about the smile. That one I will try and implement also. God Bless, SR