This quote from Luke in today's gospel (Lk. 6:36) is a command to be as generous in compassion as God is. Matthew's similar gospel says, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt. 5:48). "Apart from the impossibility of being as generous as God, how can we understand our role in God's compassion? This quote from Cardinal Etchegary in his talk to young people in Rome for the new millenium might help:
The church is asking you to be attentive to the weak and the vulnerable, those in whom Jesus Christ rejoices because they see what has been hidden to the clever and the capable (cf Mt. 11:25). Never forget this criteria, it is the most precious, the most certain, the most concrete criteria which will help you to recognize what Christ expects from you. . . The direction is clear: live poorly as Christ did, live with the poor in order to live with Christ. The renewal of the church always comes as we dare to live a covenant with the poor.
Cited in Jean Vanier, Befriending the Stranger, at p. viii. Compassion is the way to unity in the church and among peoples, the way of holiness.
Listen Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, "Sunday Morning"
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