Faithful to Compassion
Thursday, March 20, 2025
If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him…. The people who give you their food give you their heart.
—César Chávez
Theologian Karen González recalls meeting a woman who acted with compassion, regardless of her outspoken beliefs about specific policies.
I saw Mrs. Fisher standing in the lobby [with her friend] before I had even exited the elevator. It was her second visit to our immigration clinic, and … [I] prepared myself to receive an earful. True to form, she let me know that she did not approve of the work my organization does to advocate for immigration policy reform. “Why do you all have to be so political?” she asked….
Mrs. Fisher was an enigma to me—she expressed clear xenophobic tendencies, a fear of the “other,” the foreigner, often based in ethnocentrism. But in action she was generous and even hospitable—not the hosting-a-dinner-party kind but the one described in the Bible as philoxenia, the love of foreigners. This love is not sentimental or a one-time act but a way of living, a code of values that involves caring for foreign people.
On her first visit, she had brought a different immigrant friend, a woman who was her housekeeper, to renew her work permit. Her friend had been putting off the renewal because she did not want to lose half a day’s income by coming to see a legal adviser, so Mrs. Fisher had offered to pay her not to clean her house. Instead, she drove her to our immigration clinic herself, parked downtown in an expensive garage, and waited with her through the consultation. Later, she returned with her to file the actual petition. For someone who was so rabidly against welcoming immigration policies, she had given of her time, money, and other resources to assist two different people who needed immigration legal support. I know people who verbally support refugees and other immigrants who have not done half as much to assist a single immigrant person!
González refers to a parable in Matthew’s Gospel (21:28–30), highlighting the role of compassionate action in our spiritual growth:
According to Jesus’s explanation … it is the good deed that counts, not the yes with good intentions…. [Mrs. Fisher] was doing God’s will, but did she believe God’s words about welcoming and doing justice for the immigrant?
It is impossible for me to know, because I never saw her again. Yet, I would not be surprised if she had, because it has been my experience that we often practice ourselves into new ways of being and believing. I always thought that belief precedes action, and sometimes it does. But all too often, it is practices that shape us, that change our beliefs and help us internalize them in ways that are transformative. We learn by doing. I wonder if Mrs. Fisher now proclaims hospitality in addition to practicing hospitality. I hope so.
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Jesus Calling: March 20
Thank Me for the glorious gift of My Spirit. This is like priming the pump of a well. As you bring Me the sacrifice of thanksgiving, regardless of your feelings, My Spirit is able to work more freely within you. This produces more thankfulness and more freedom, until you are overflowing with gratitude.
I shower blessings on you daily, but sometimes you don’t perceive them. When your mind is stuck on a negative focus, you see neither Me nor My gifts. In faith, thank Me for whatever is preoccupying your mind. This will clear the blockage so that you can find Me.
RELATED SCRIPTURE:
2nd Corinthians 5:5 (NLT)
5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
2nd Corinthians 3:17 (NLT)
17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Psalm 50:14 (NLT)
14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God,
and keep the vows you made to the Most High.
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A beautiful and well-known poem that expresses the love and joy of God is “Love” by George Herbert (1593–1633). This English poem, written in the 17th century, captures God’s unconditional love and the joy of being welcomed into His presence.
Love (lll) 1625.
By George Herbert
Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lacked anything.
“A guest,” I answered, “worthy to be here:”
Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.”
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
“Who made the eyes but I?”
“Truth, Lord, but I have marred them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not,” says Love, “Who bore the blame?”
“My dear, then I will serve.”
“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.”
So I did sit and eat.
This poem is a moving reflection on God’s boundless love and the joy of being received by Him despite our unworthiness. Herbert personifies “Love” as God, gently inviting the hesitant soul to embrace divine grace. The final lines convey the joy and peace that come from accepting God’s love.
