For the Just Gospel post this month Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Kathleen Murphy reflects on the Pope’s Prayer intention: Let us pray that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from his Heart, learn to have compassion on the world.
Let us begin our reflections this month with St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures. We often settle for experiencing this matchless piece of poetry as an ode to creation, an ecological verse. When Francis composed it, the Canticle was a song. He sang in praise of every element of God’s universe. He couldn’t help but sing, so full of God’s glory was he. But at this time in his life, Francis was suffering in every part of his being. He was blind and endured severe pain in his eyes and head. He carried the wounds of the stigmata in his body and bore the agony of those wounds daily. It was said that he had stomach ailments that kept him from eating without discomfort. He slept on the dirt floor of a darkened and stifling hut overrun with mice. From this place he sings out his masterpiece about the glories of God. In Francis’ very soul lives faith in a God whose love overflows in the wonders of our world, whose compassion strokes every hurt no matter how great or small. It is to this God that Pope Francis asks us to turn in prayer saying: Let us pray that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from his Heart, learn to have compassion on the world.
We all know the meaning of compassion and have experienced it on some level at various points in our life. Yet, perhaps the following story will bring a fresh characterization of compassion. From the choices of children, we can sometimes learn holiness. The following is the story of a special needs boy named Shaya and his father.
One afternoon Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys were playing baseball. Shaya asked, Do you think they will let me play? Shaya’s father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But hoping for the best, Shaya’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning. (Photo: Viktoria Borodinova, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya’s team was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded, with the potential winning run on base, Shaya was to be up next. Would the team actually let him bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because he didn’t even know-how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of his teammates stepped up and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya. As the pitch came in, the two boys swung the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked it up and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first! Run to first!” Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running.
But the right-fielder understood what the pitcher’s intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman’s head. Everyone yelled, “Run to second! Run to second!” Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, “Run to third!” As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, “Shaya run home!” Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a grand slam and won the game for his team.
“That day,” said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, “those 18 boys reached God’s perfection.” (frtommylane.com)
What is God’s perfection? It seems from this story that it lies in the practice of compassion. People can sometimes practice compassion from a solely human starting point. How much deeper and richer should be the compassion we practice when we see Jesus’ face in the face of another. We cannot find Him there, however, if we don’t know Him, if we haven’t cultivated a relationship with Jesus. That is what Pope Leo wishes us to recall in our prayer this month.
This same sense of compassion and love play a role in our theme of hope. As St. Paul writes about the Early Church, They strove to have one and the same love, to be united in spirit and focused on the same thing (Philippians 2:2). In that way they shone out like points of light in the world (cf. Philippians 2:15). From the very beginning, Christian hope kindled a fire on the earth. This fire was not fed by the fuel of simple logs, nor did it give off a light and heat that could be analyzed by chemists. This fire was one that burns eternally if we choose to continually feed it with hope in a God who deals with us from a compassionate heart. Let us be the same for others! (Photo: mark6mauno, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
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