We are all called to contemplatives in action (ones who see then act with thoughtfulness and deliberation) in this world. We are co-creators of the Kingdom, with God, and with each other. We need community, compassion, and solidarity if we are to help this world.
What if we could give without counting the costs? What if we could see our neighbor suffering, and enter into their life with true love and compassion to help them. And sometimes it is not about "fixing" their problems, sometimes it is just about "being there" for them.
It is hard. If you live in a big city like I do, you tend to get overwhelmed by the shear number of homeless and destitute. And some not so much physically destitute as spiritually destitute. I live on the edge of a DMZ. I am in a quite little pocket of a neighborhood, but I am surrounded by... well, by ghetto. Everyday, I drive through "Cracktown", see the girls working the corner (or at least dressed as though they were), and the guys with their britches falling off, buying Swisher Sweets and magnums of Colt 45 malt liquor at 830 in the morning. Everyday, I see these people pulling out of their Section 8 supported apartments in their Cadillac Escalades, and their BMW's. I find it very difficult to not shut it all out. To try to see God at work in this environment. To think to myself, "What can I do to help these people? Do they even really need or want my help?"
We are called to give all of our love to God, Christ, Ourselves, and Our Neighbors. But Lord, it is hard. Sometimes I have to block it all out, lest I become overwhelmed with it. There are times that I would take on all of the pain of a complete stranger, so that they may experience the Love of God. But I know that is not always, or even often possible, so I feel I have to lock it down.
But I am just one man... Do you notice the overwhelming flood of compassion and support that comes to a community after a natural disaster or a tragedy? It is immense! But where is it in the quiet days in between? For the homeless, for the sick, for the mentally ill? No one man can fix it all, but as a community, can we come together in love and compassion, in solidarity, to fix what is broken in our communities, in our cities, in our country, in our world?
One must open oneself up to see the suffering, before one can be available to heal the suffering.
In the eyes of God, no one life is worth more than any other life.
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