“WHEN Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.” (Mk 6,34)
This is typical of Christ. Wherever he went, though he had to convey difficult and hard-to-understand messages to the people, since these messages were mainly spiritual and supernatural in character, he never neglected their more immediate human needs.
Thus, he cured the sick, restored sight to the blind, made the lame walk, cleansed the leper, fed thousands of people, and even brought the dead back to life again.
His heart flowed always with compassion, quick to notice the needs of others and to respond to them. And all this in all simplicity, telling the beneficiaries who were so bursting with gratitude that they wanted to broadcast what they received to the whole world, to keep quiet instead.
It’s an example that we should all try to imitate. One deep desire we should have is that of making as some kind of default mode that attitude of thinking always of the others, wishing them well all the time and doing whatever we can to help.
It’s obviously not easy to do, but we can always try. With God’s grace and with our persistent effort, we can little by little and day by day hack it, such that it becomes second nature to us to think and feel for the others. That’s what compassion is all about.
Compassion starts in the heart, in our thoughts and desires. In this level, there is no limit in what we can do. Obviously, when we try to translate these prayers, thoughts and desires into action and material things, we can be greatly limited. But insofar as prayers and sacrifices are involved, the possibilities are unlimited.
We need to examine ourselves more deeply to see if indeed we are always thinking, praying and wishing others well. We have to be wary of our tendency to let our thoughts and desired be dictated only by self-interest, usually done in a most subtle but effective way. For this, we have to do regular examination of conscience.
We need to be on guard because the environment around, the culture and general lifestyle are such that gives only token and never authentic expressions of compassion, or a compassion that is highly conditioned, adapted more to the appeasement of one’s ruffled feelings than to truly helping others.
And this attitude, like a default mode, should be with us even when we have to deal with the defects, mistakes and offenses of the others. In fact, I would say, our compassion should grow more intense in these situations.
In a sense, while we should show compassion to beggars and those living in some miserable human conditions, we have to show greater compassion to those who may be rich but are openly separated from God. These latter suffer a graver poverty than that of the former.
This can only mean that our compassion is genuine, that it really is a function and expression of charity, and not just a passing and shallow sense of pity, based mainly on external factors rather than on the true dignity of each person as a child of God.
Our compassion should not be skin-deep only. It has to go all the way, the way Christ himself had compassion with us and continues to do so up to now. His compassion did not stop merely on curing and healing. He went all the way to preaching, forgiving sins—things that put him in trouble—and ultimately giving his life up for us.
Our compassion should not only cover the material aspects of our life. More important are the spiritual and those involved in our supernatural destiny. So, aside from the corporal works of mercy that we ought to do, we should be more concerned about the spiritual works of mercy.
That is to say, we have to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead. And beyond these, we have to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offenses, bear wrongs patiently and pray for the living and the dead.
All of these involve and, in fact, require a big amount of sacrifice. We should not be afraid to make these sacrifices. To those who truly follow Christ, sacrifices are a sure sign of love. True charity can never do away with sacrifice.
When poverty is most advisable
But there’s also a good poverty, the kind that is supposed to be lived by everyone, and especially by the rich, famous and powerful who are actually most vulnerable to the worst kind of poverty. Unfortunately, this good one is practically the exception rather than the rule nowadays.
This good poverty is the poverty of spirit, as enshrined in one of the beatitudes—“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Mt 5,3) and reiterated many times by Christ in his teachings, like when he said:
“Everyone who has left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.” (Mt 19,29)
This good poverty, this poverty of spirit means a great hunger for God, since the worst poverty is to be without God, the source of all good things in life here and hereafter. Our need for God far outweighs our need for any material and earthly thing—money, fame, power.
This poverty of spirit, this great hunger for God is therefore most advisable especially for those in positions where temptations to forget God and to simply be at the mercy of the allurements of worldly things abound. In fact, it is not only advisable. It is necessary.
This is the case of the rich, popular and powerful people—politicians, tycoons, celebrities, artists, etc., who, as we have been seeing and hearing lately, are involved in the most heinous kind of corruption and self-enrichment.
While you would think that since they already have much money, fame and power, they would already be contented, the evidence at hand, however, presents the opposite. They crave for more. Their lust for more becomes so sordid they look addicted or possessed by some demons.
They start to see things very differently. What was black and white before now becomes a crazy mix of borderless colors. There are those who are so smart and clever that they can cover their greed for some time. But they themselves know it is only a matter of time before things explode.
We need to develop in a more determined way this good kind of poverty. We cannot take this need for granted anymore. We have to act on it with urgency to make it second nature to us and a functioning culture to all.
And it’s first of all a matter of reconciling ourselves with God. Without that, without our conversion, there’s no way we can truly live this good kind of poverty that actually enriches us in the proper way.
One main problem here is that widespread bias that puts God out of the picture, or at least, he is put in the margins, in our affairs with money, fame and power. This attitudinal barrier has to be smashed.
Sad to say, this dangerous mindset can even afflict Church people who, like Judas, can appear to be with God when in fact they are not. Judas helped himself to the common fund, and that must have contributed to his betraying Christ.
Everyone has to examine his conscience to see if his mind and heart are so in love with God that they are willing to be detached from earthly things so as to be with God alone. For with God, we would already have everything in their right proportion.
Let’s live temperance, restraint and moderation in the use of earthly goods, so that we don’t spoil ourselves and make ourselves blind and deaf to the things of God and the things of everyone else.
Let’s also cultivate the keen sense of justice and solidarity, since we have to understand that all earthly goods have a universal destination, even if we also have the right to private ownership. Good poverty is not only a matter of loving God. It is very much loving others.
This is also another thing that is hardly known, let alone, understood by many people—how to blend the human principle of the universal destination and distribution of goods with the right to private ownership.
Let’s pray that one way or another this good poverty becomes a living reality in our midst, with those in high position leading the way.