A New Heart

A Homily on the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Lectionary: 107

     On 7 February 1945 the Nazi government executed already imprisoned German protestant theologian Diethrich Bonhoeffer. He refused to swear allegiance to anyone other than Christ. Bonhoffer, horrified at what men and women were doing to others, preached,

     In the Gospel, we hear that when the Lord “saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them...” (Matt 14:14) Jesus saw then, and sees now, as Bonhoffer preached, our suffering first, and His heart moves, not with judgment, but with pity,

     We often speak of the heart as the spiritual seat of life, the center of one’s being. In the Gospel, the English word for “pity” in Greek is synonymous with our word compassion. Com-passion comes from the Latin root “pati,” meaning to suffer, joined with the Latin prefix “com” meaning “with.” The center of God’s almighty being moves with compassion, a desire to suffer with, and for, us.

     True compassion is more than empathy. Empathy is a sensitivity for the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another. It is an emotional response. Compassion is different. It is not just a “feeling sorry” for the other, but the action of suffering with the other, then working to eliminate that suffering.

    Years ago, I commanded Soldiers along the Iraq-Iran border. Our mission was to reestablish the Iraqi Border and disrupt any attempts to bring weapons and munitions across that border. One afternoon I entered a Coalition Forward Operating Base where I saw 14 insurgents squatting in the full sun. Their hands were zipped-tied behind their backs and heads uncovered. The temperature was well over 100 degrees.

     I walked past, feeling sorry for them but also wondering what they could tell us about any smuggling that was going on. My driver, a young Sergeant First Class, unhesitatingly went to the cooler of iced water in our truck and began to personally give it to the prisoners. He then ordered the guards to move the prisoners into a shaded area.

     With more colorful language than I can repeat, he reminded the guards that these Iraqis were prisoners whom we were responsible to safeguard. He told the guards to treat the prisoners the way they would want their own children, brothers, or sisters treated in the same predicament. The guards followed his orders. I am sure that had the Sergeant not intervened, we would have lost one or two prisoners to heat stroke that day.

    I had empathy; the Sergeant had true compassion. Again, empathy is the capacity to sense someone else’s pain. Godly compassion is to feel another’s pain, and act to take that pain away. Importantly, forgiveness is implied in both. There is a beauty in empathy, a nobility of action in compassion, and grace in forgiveness.

     In the Gospel today, Jesus, from the center of our Lord’s being, is moved with compassion when the world, the wilderness, makes it so hard to draw near to God. He acts miraculously. In the verses which follow the Gospel today, Christ feeds more than 5000. That is compassion!

     The prophet Jeremiah tells us in the first reading that God cares deeply, has empathy, for not only the sheep of His flock but also for all humanity driven into “foreign lands,” the wilderness. His desire is to act so they need no longer “fear and tremble.” And He does!

      St Paul writes in the second reading that, “you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.” In compassion, God through the Son, acts to save us. On the cross He stretched out His hands and endured His Passion to break the bonds of death and manifest our salvation. In compassion, Jesus willingly suffered with us and experiences death to break down “the dividing wall of enmity”, that we have erected through our sin.

     Jesus doesn’t look upon us with anger and judgement for our arrogance, greed, and rebellion. Instead, His heart is moved in empathy, with compassion, and unconditional forgiveness. Shouldn’t we do the same? Do you have the heart of Jesus?

     If you are shaking your head “no”, ask why not? If you are nodding your head “yes” ask; “do I simply have empathy or, will I act with compassion?” The Lord is the shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. Jesus is a man for others, a man of action.

     Today Jesus calls us to have His sacred heart. Over the next three weeks you will hear what is called the “Bread of Life Discourse” from the Gospel of John 6. He tells us there that,

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. … whoever eats me will live because of me. (John 6:56–57)

     In the Eucharist Jesus gifts us His heart. If we accept the gift, we are saved through a heart transplant. In the words of Ezekiel, the Lord removes our heart of stone and gifts us a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 26:26) We do, however, have to get “me” out of “His” way. We must set aside our own hurt feelings, our sense of I am right, and you are wrong; our desire to assert our privilege over the other; our reluctance to love those we find unlovable, to see the other not just with empathy, but to sincerely, have compassion, “in the light of what they suffer.”

     Recently within our American politic, after such bitter divisiveness, we have thankfully begun to hear calls for unity. I don’t think I will believe it until I hear the beautiful words of empathy, see noble acts of compassion, and witness the grace of forgiveness for every single person who lives in this great country. This is the essence of unity for, this is the essence of love, the heart of Jesus.

     Receiving the Eucharist today, ask the Lord for His heart, and the strength to give ours away. Allow your heart to be moved!

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”