Daily Reflections-1; October 20, 2014 By Fr. Jose Panthaplamthottiyil, CMI For Broken Bodies and Broken Souls Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), who is honored as the father of the nation in India, was educated in England as a lawyer. However, when he joined in the struggle for Indian independence, he abandoned his western clothes and began to walk around half naked without wearing a shirt. A little girl who happened to see this asked him, “Mahatma, why are you not wearing a shirt? If you don’t mind, I shall ask my father to give you one.” Then Gandhi said, “If you give me a shirt, then all my brothers and sisters who go about like me will be very upset.” Immediately the girl said, “Then I will give all of them shirts. How many do you need?” With his characteristic smile, he patted her on her shoulders and said, “Four hundred million!” Gandhi was then referring to all the poor people in India at that time. Now this is compassion. And this is the kind of compassion Jesus had when he saw the people who came to him from different towns and villages. The people who came to him were like sheep without a shepherd. They had no one to take care of them. When he saw them he felt pity on them, welcomed them and taught them (Mark. 6:34). He healed those who were sick among them (Luke 9:11). He gave them food when they were hungry (Mathew 14: 13-21). Jesus showed compassion to everyone who went to him. It was meant to heal their broken bodies and broken souls. It was meant to make them whole again. But Jesus not only showed compassion, he also asked his followers to be compassionate. “Be compassionate as your Heavenly Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36). Like our Master and Lord, we have to show compassion to our fellow human beings. If our world is going through so much violence and hatred it is primarily because of the lack of compassion in our lives. The British Philosopher Bertrand Russell, after analyzing the problems of the world, wrote, “If we want a stable world what we really need is a simple and old-fashioned thing, a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed to mention it for fear of the derisive smile with which the wise cynics will greet my words. The thing I mean is love, Christian love or compassion.” Yes, as Russell said, the world today needs compassion more than anything else. Following the example and teaching of our Lord Jesus, let us try to be compassionate as he was.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:21:53 +0000
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