16th Sunday - B

My brothers and sisters!
When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them. This is what we call compassion! The story of Jesus’ redemption is a story of the compassion. Before He came to the world, He was with the Father in heaven. He knew human history from the sins of Adam until the coming of John the Baptist; that is a history of struggling and surviving. He knew how men were looking for God all through human history. Before the time of the prophets, men made trial and error in seeking God. When they saw a big tree or a huge stone, they thought that they had a supernatural power and they would bring offering worshiped in front of the tree or of the stone. Or they made images of gods. They tried to communicate with the Almighty Being. They tried to deal with the Creator of the universe, because men realized that they are limited and vulnerable. They needed a protector, on whom they could rely their lives. But because of human weakness, men could never really find God even though God sent them many prophets. That’s why God saw how men suffered and got lost and His heart was moved by pity, so He sent His only Son to save mankind. Because of His compassion God became man in order that men become sons of God.
Compassion comes from love. If there is no love, there is no compassion as well. God is love so God is full of compassion. It means that He understands human suffering and He cannot keep still with our problems. God cannot be indifferent with our lives.
Jesus is the representation of God. He is the Son of God. He has the same heart of God the Father. Jesus loves us. That’s why he has compassion with us especially with those who suffer many problems and have a heavy burden, with those who are treated with injustice, with those who are forgotten etc.
I remember the story of St. Damian of Molokai. He was a missionary from Belgium who worked in Hawaii Islands. Then he heard about Molokai Island, a place for lepers. At that time, there was no doctor and no nurse who took care of them. Fr. Damian had the same compassion as Jesus. He asked his Bishop to go to Molokai to serve the lepers. First many people didn’t agree with him. But he insisted. Having spent a couple of years there Fr. Damian himself was infected by leprosy. At that time whenever he encouraged the lepers he could say: we as lepers …. Fr. Damian became one of them. This is compassion that brings Fr. Damian to solidarity. Jesus’ compassion is still at work until now.
What does it mean for us now? On the one hand, the compassion of Jesus will encourage those who are suffering now, those who have many problems in their life, so you will not get despair but have faith and confidence that Jesus will not leave you alone with your difficulties. On the other hand, we, the Church as the Body of Christ, should have the same compassion if we are to represent Jesus in this world. It means that we also should have the same love as Jesus has. It is a love for the poor, love for the sick, love for the aged persons, those with disabilities etc … maybe they are in our own family or someone that we should find in our neighborhood. So we have to open not only our hearts but first to open our eyes for the needs of others. Because I myself, I am new here, I don’t know if there is anyone that needs our help.
For me, I understand compassion as a sign of a living faith. Because faith has its partners according to St. Paul, they are faith, hope and love; the greatest of all is love. Compassion is an acting faith in love that brings others hope. Compassion is not only a feeling but an action, a life giving for others.
Every time we celebrate the Eucharist; we have compassion with Jesus and with others. Literally, we can understand this as “com” means together and “passion” means passio or suffering. Compassion means to suffer together, to suffer along with, with Jesus and with other. Compassion takes its shape in solidarity. That’s why we do really celebrate the Eucharist then, when after that we become Eucharist for others. As Jesus gave his life for us, so also we have to give our lives for others. How can it happen? We come to church not anymore to look for ourselves salvation but for others. If we come to church only for our benefit, we won’t get it … it is true. This is the same as my experiences in prayer. If I pray for myself, it seems that God will not give me what I ask. But if I pray for others, they said that they got it, God hears my prayers for others. Since then if I have a petition for myself, I used to ask an old religious sister to pray for me.
To become the Eucharist for others is our mission after the Mass. You know the word Mass comes from the conclusion of Mass in Latin: Ite misa est, that means: you are sent, you are sent to continue the Eucharist in your real lives, to share with the others what you have got, the blessing, the communion, the words of encouragement. You are the blessing for others now as your presence makes others blessed. You are the holy communion when you can share your life for others who are in need. You are the words of God when your presence makes other people find joy and hope. The Eucharist spreads out of the wall of the Church because of you and the world becomes a huge Church. This is the idealism of a Eucharist celebration. Is it possible to realize it? Or will it stand as a dream or as a theory only? I hope not. It is possible to make this comes true; we may hope that, because we have faith in Jesus. We have love for others. We can have compassion as well.
In the second reading St. Paul said that God had reconciled us and made us new person in Christ, through Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. This new status as sons of God, as a saved community, together hand by hand we can make our dream become real. Let us ask the help from the Holy Spirit, that we may be cleansed from our sins, from our egoism; that we may live with compassion for others, that we have more love for Jesus and for others. I believe that Jesus the Lord whose heart was moved with pity for many people like sheep without a shepherd will not leave us alone in our struggling lives. And finally, let us be good sheep for Jesus … God bless you. Amen!