{"id":22914,"date":"2023-09-18T10:19:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T14:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22914"},"modified":"2023-09-18T10:38:50","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T14:38:50","slug":"22914","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22914","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chris Tomlin - Lay Me Down (Lyric Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0pkWrvCZDHA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Creating a Community of Compassion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them\u202fand healed their sick. \u2014Matthew 14:14&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This week of meditations begins with a homily from Richard Rohr on Matthew 14:13\u201321. He describes how Jesus created a community of compassion:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gospel passage is quite good and delightful because it tells us very directly what God is about. <strong>Jesus is all about meeting immediate needs, right here and right now.<\/strong> There\u2019s no mention of heaven at all. It seems we\u2019ve missed the point of what the Christian religion should be about, but we see how the disciples themselves missed the point: \u201cTell them to go to the village and take care of themselves\u201d (Matthew 14:15). But Jesus does not leave people on their own!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at the setting. Jesus is tired. The gospel begins with him withdrawing to a deserted place to be by himself. Sure enough, the crowds follow after him, but<strong> he doesn\u2019t get angry or send them away. He recognizes the situation and moves to deal with it. <\/strong>Then the passage goes further and states, \u201cHis heart was moved with pity\u201d (Matthew 14:14).<strong> If Jesus is our image of God, then we know God has feelings for human pain, human need, and even basic human hunger<\/strong>. The gospel records that he cured the sick, so we know God is also about healing, what today we call healthcare. <strong>Sometimes, we don\u2019t even believe everyone deserves that eithe<\/strong>r! Jesus says, \u201cThere is no need for them to go away. We will feed them\u201d (Matthew 14:16).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The point in all the healing stories of the gospels is not simply that Jesus can work miracles. It is not for us to be astounded that Jesus can turn five loaves and two fish into enough for five thousand people, not counting women and children. That is pretty amazing, and I wish we could do it ourselves, but <strong>what Jesus does quite simply is feed people\u2019s immediate needs. He doesn\u2019t talk to them about spiritual things, heavenly things, or churchy things.<\/strong> He doesn\u2019t give a sermon about going to church. He does not tell us what things we are supposed to be upset about today.<strong> He knows that we can\u2019t talk about spiritual things until we take away people\u2019s immediate physical hunger<\/strong>. When so much of the world is living at a mere survival level, how can we possibly talk about spiritual things?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The important thing that God seems to want to be doing in history is to create a community of compassion where people care about one another. It is not only the feeding that matters to us, it is also the caring for other people\u2019s hunger and needs. <strong>Jesus never once talked about attending church services, but he talked constantly about healing the sick and feeding the hungry. That is what it seems to mean to be a follower of Jesus.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mirrored Suffering Leads to Compassion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard reflects on how sitting with our own suffering allows us to extend compassion to others:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The outer poverty, injustice, and absurdity we see when we look around us mirrors our own inner poverty, injustice, and absurdity. The person who is poor outside is an invitation to the person who is poor inside. <strong>As we nurture compassion for the brokenness of things, and learn to move between action and contemplation, then we find compassion and sympathy for brokenness within ourselves. <\/strong>We, too, are full of pain and negativity, and sometimes there is little we can do about it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each time I was recovering from cancer, I had to sit with my own broken absurdity as I\u2019ve done with others at the jail or hospital or soup kitchen. The suffering person\u2019s pain and poverty is visible and extroverted; mine is invisible and interior, yet just as real. <strong>The two sympathies and compassion connect and become one world. I think that\u2019s why Jesus said we have to recognize Christ in the least of our brothers and sisters. It was for&nbsp;<em>our&nbsp;<\/em>redemption,&nbsp;<em>our<\/em>&nbsp;liberation,&nbsp;<em>our\u202f<\/em>healing\u2014<\/strong>not merely to \u201chelp\u201d others and put a check on our spiritual resume. Rather, when we see it over there, we\u2019re freed in here, and become less judgmental. I can\u2019t look down on a person receiving welfare when I realize I\u2019m receiving God\u2019s welfare. It all becomes one truth; the inner and the outer reflect one another.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As compassion and sympathy flow from us&nbsp;<em>to any person marginalized for whatever reason<\/em>, wounds are bandaged\u2014both theirs and ours. We\u2019ll never bandage them all, nor do we need to, but we do need to get close to the wounds. That idea is imaged so well in the gospels with Thomas, the doubting apostle, who wanted to figure things out in his head. He had done too much inner work, too much analyzing. He always needed more data before making a move. Then Jesus told Thomas to put his finger inside the wounds in Jesus\u2019 hands and side (John 20:27). Then and only then did Thomas begin to understand what faith is all about. [1]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus<strong> invites Thomas and all doubters into a&nbsp;<em>tangible<\/em>&nbsp;religion, one that makes touching human pain and suffering the way into both compassion and understanding.<\/strong> For most of us, the mere touching of another\u2019s wound probably feels like an act of outward kindness; we don\u2019t realize that its full intended effect is to change us as much as it might change them (there\u2019s no indication that Jesus changed, only Thomas). <strong>Human sympathy is the best and easiest way to open heart space and to make us live inside our own bodies. God never intended most human beings to become philosophers or theologians, but God does want all humans to represent God\u2019s own sympathy and empathy. And it\u2019s okay if it takes a while to get there<\/strong>. [2]&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-5-500x466.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22919\" width=\"836\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-5-500x466.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-5-300x280.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-5-768x716.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-5.png 1068w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Creating a Community of Compassion When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them\u202fand healed their sick. \u2014Matthew 14:14&nbsp;&nbsp; This week of meditations begins with a homily from Richard Rohr on Matthew 14:13\u201321. He describes how Jesus created a community of compassion:&nbsp;&nbsp; The gospel passage is quite good and delightful because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22914"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22914"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22920,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22914\/revisions\/22920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}