Many Scripture scholars point out that the basic meaning of the reading from chapter thirteen of the Gospel according to St. Luke in today’s mass is to call sinners to repentance. Jesus makes that fairly clear. However, there are some characters in this reading that, even though they do not get named specifically, call out for our compassion and prayers. Victims of terrible misfortune – people massacred by Pilate during their religious observance, others killed by a falling tower.
Victims of terrible misfortune: Do you still remember the number of people who died in Hurricane Harvey? How about those who died due to the extreme cold and its effects just over a year ago? The exact figures escape me now, but there were too many. Keep in mind that those were local disasters and calamities. I have not even mentioned the terrible destruction and brutality that has been unleashed upon the people of the Ukraine by the Russian invasion of that country.
Every day hundreds of thousands of people, or maybe in the millions, die of preventable diseases, hunger, extreme poverty, war & violence. The majority in faraway places. People gunned down on the streets of our city. Lots of crying right afterwards along with some media attention. Soon after, they become statistics.
Our times seem filled with unfortunate and anonymous victims. Worse yet, human history seems to be the same way. They were and are loved, certainly by God. Hopefully, by other people as well. Jesus refers to them and challenges us to not think any less of them.
Reflecting on the unnamed victims of the 30-year armed conflict that sadly took place in Guatemala, Fr. Henri Nouwen writes that our hearts must “become the place where the tears of God and the tears of God’s children can mingle and become tears of hope.”¹
We’re talking about looking upon the suffering and misfortune of others and not turning away. Not because we are some sort of fearless people, but because we know that love and mercy are the only antidotes to our oftentimes brutal and soul-less world. It’s about being a “Good Samaritan,” not just by doing a good deed, but first by being moved with compassion that then expresses itself by just and good actions.
Such compassion and action, when possible, do not arise out of nothing. We are talking about the fruit of something we can and must do: pray. In these cases, we can understand it as intercessory prayer; we intercede spiritually for others, which includes those we know as well as people we will never have the chance to meet.
In his powerful apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis calls us to open our hearts and expand our understanding and practice of prayer: “intercessory prayer does not divert us from true contemplation, since authentic contemplation always has a place for others (281)... Far from being suspicious, negative and despairing, it is a spiritual gaze born of deep faith which acknowledges what God is doing in the lives of others. At the same time, it is the gratitude which flows from a heart attentive to others” (282)... We can say that God’s heart is touched by our intercession, yet in reality he is always there first. What our intercession achieves is that his power, his love and his faithfulness are shown ever more clearly in the midst of the people” (283).²
God’s power, his love and faithfulness made visible in Christ and continued throughout history by our spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Prayer is never meant to be an escape, but meant to strengthen our bond with Christ and lead us onward to recognize his presence in our world.
People cease being a statistic when we remember them in prayer, even if we never knew their names or were not blessed personally by their presence. People cease being so “other” when we are strong enough to keep focused on their true needs and dignity to the point when our pride fades and the face of Christ shines through our fears and prejudices.
We might forget, but Jesus remembers. Those he redeems are often people we have never known and people we might not like. They are, though, people He loves. Don’t worry about your memory. The most important thing is to love and be merciful. If we forget that, then let the suffering and pain of our world remind us of what and who are most important.
That’s not turning away, but turning to Him who remembers us and our needs because his forgiveness is always personal, for you, me and all of humanity.
“The Love of Christ impels us!” Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P.