Update on this topic from Kathryn Ann (OP)
Just the other day I saw a video of a little Mid-Eastern child whose family home, a small trailer, was being demolished with a large crane, apparently because the home was deemed illegal by the “enemy” state, whose borders the family had inadvertently invaded.
The adults in the family faced down gunmen, arguing and shouting, and for a moment, I was understandably sad.
What really broke my heart was when they showed a small child, a little girl ,rush out amid the destruction, crying her eyes out. A few moments later in this video, an older boy sweeps the little girl up in his arms and hands her over to her mother.
Thank God, our Catholic Relief Services helps all over the world, despite politics, to relieve tensions. They have wise policies. They’re on the front lines and they’re worthy of our support.
I’m just writing this today because the image haunts me. Finding a balance between gratitude for what we have and helping those who suffer is an ongoing struggle for me.
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Yet today it occurred to me that some of the most helpful people are often called “unbalanced,” including the saints, who don’t always comply with our version of the world.
I was just thinking that maybe balance is not the goal at all.** Maybe a broken heart, like the image of Christ’s own Bleeding Heart, is a good place to be because it calls us to action.
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Is it possible that compassion, as long as it leads to actively helping people, is a better goal than self contentment and perhaps a false sense of balance?**
I think that if being heartbroken at seeing the distress of children all over the world makes us not perfectly “balanced,” and makes us work harder to alleviate suffering, that this could be the real goal. Many thought that our Lord Christ was not balanced as he walked with sinners, healed the sick, and was found in unconventional situations. Even His own family was concerned for His state of mind.
Aren’t all these dear children, so far from us, worthy of more than a passing prayer? And just as important are the children we know in our own towns and cities, where so many suffer.
Even if we have done all we can do, and support those who help both here and abroad, isn’t it better to continue to feel their distress in our hearts and do what we can, rather than seek self-contentment?
I think that must be the difference between Catholicism and “spirituality” that teaches “bliss” or “balance” or contentment as a goal. I can’t feel content as long as I remember that little child crying her heart out as the huge crane demolishes the only home she has ever known. We all do our best to help in our own communities. But the world grows smaller every day, seeing images of real people suffering, and the little ones do tug at my heart the most.
*Is a compassionate heart that sometimes seems “unbalanced,” and spurs us to action a better goal than self contentment? If the scripture “The Joy of the Lord is my strength,” is to help us here, is it possible that Christ is seeking us to share in His own, compassionate heart so that we rejoice not in our own contentment, but in making the world a more balanced place? ***
Isn’t that the message of “If you have two coats, give away one?” It may seem nonsensical to give away things “rightly” ours. But the joy may be in the giving, not in the contentment of having personal success and possessions, not in feeling “balanced,” but in the courage to share Christ’s deeply- felt compassion for those who are storm- tossed and suffering.
Is it possible that this is why our Dear Christ allowed some of His followers to experience those particular moments of distress on the boat during a terrible storm? Was Christ’s message here something we’ve missed?
Before He calmed the sea, He allowed His followers to experience fully their own humanity, and the fact that the storms are real, and must be felt fully be all.
Your thoughts? Comments?
Blessings to all here,
Kathryn Ann
