“Compassion when it’s difficult is the most telling manifestation of our Christianity.”
Risking Compassion
January 20th, 2021
Today as we see our country’s leadership shift as it does every four or eight years, I am so aware of how important our mutual compassion for one another will be. Some are uplifted and others deflated. We have to allow for one another’s place and hold that in our own hearts.
Along with this Touchstone reflection on how Jesus knowingly risked agitating the religious leadership of his day to heal someone in need, I have included a song I wrote many years ago, based on an idea of St. Augustine that we are called not to simply receive the body of Christ, but to become the body of Christ.
To become what we receive is our Christian vocation. We have to reach out to one another to become a body, not just a loose conglomeration of individuals. I know that you’ve all been inundated with media this past few weeks so this text is short. Today’s video is short (well… short for me!). I hope you can all find some peace as you offer that peace to one another.
God Bless,
Fr. Pat
Have a wonderful Christmas. God bless. Be safe and be well.
~Fr. Pat
Gospel | Mark 3:1-6
Jesus entered the synagogue.
There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched Jesus closely
to see if he would cure him on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger
and grieved at their hardness of heart,
Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
Jesus entered the synagogue.
There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched Jesus closely
to see if he would cure him on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger
and grieved at their hardness of heart,
Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
"The Prayer of the Body and Blood" - Fr. Pat Dolan
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