GIVE THEM SOME FOOD YOURSELVES! Several months after the big tragedy that was Yolanda, thousands are still living in tents and makeshift houses. I should know. I was often in Tacloban and nearby provinces, in my puny little efforts at helping in the rehabilitation work in Eastern Samar. But as if the typhoon was not tragic enough, a fire ravaged the tent city as the seventh month drew near. An entire “survivor” family of six did not survive the conflagration. Thoughts of compassion, feelings of pity, and ruminations of charity fill our hearts when such disasters strike. The Gospel today tells us how even Jesus was “moved with pity” for the vast crowd that followed Him everywhere. I must confess that my little work to help those most in need in the typhoon-ravaged areas has also “moved me” in some way. But at the same time, I can also relate to the disciples who, faced as they were with an emerging problem that was bigger than them, could do nothing more than “look the other way” and suggest to the Lord: “Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” I am sure that the disciples themselves were moved, but they also probably felt helpless. I am sure they had love, and even had the welfare of the people in mind, as shown by their well-meaning desire to help, no matter how indirectly. They came up with a brilliant suggestion to give the people an opportunity to fend for themselves. But feeling love and compassion is not yet truly loving. Someone said long ago that “a song is not a song until it is sung; love is not love until it is given away.” Loving thoughts and compassionate feelings need something more. They need to be operationalized, to be actualized and given flesh and blood, for the object of such compassion is real people in flesh and blood, who could just as well be your brother, sister, parent, child or relation. “Give them some food yourselves!” Now this is love in action! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB REFLECTION QUESTIONS: What do you do when feel compassion for others? Do you try to ignore the feeling or do you allow it to move you to act? Grant me compassion, Lord, that I may be Your heart and hands to Your suffering people.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 02:21:42 +0000
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