SAVED THROUGH THE GRACE OF THE LORD

The year 2009 was memorable, but not in a good sense. Our country was visited by twin typhoons that ravaged a big portion of the Philippine archipelago. The live media coverage of the hapless —and slowly growing hopeless — residents of the affected areas where water seemed to have simply surged in hours, threatening so many lives, was simply heart-rending. The live calls for help from panicking people atop roofs was too much to bear for someone like me who lived so many miles and so many hours away from the Philippines.

I felt so helpless. I wanted to do something on my end, but there was, of course, nothing I could do except pray. As I watched in horror, all I could utter to myself was, “It could have been me. It could have been anyone of us who were then on high and dry ground. It just so happened that we were someplace else.”

What I felt then, was not so much sympathy as empathy — the capacity to stand in the shoes of another human being; the ability to feel “for” others and understand up to some point what they are going through. In a very real sense, I felt that “there, but for the grace of God, go I.”

The disciples had to go through some kind of soul searching in this regard. For some time, they didn’t quite know how to deal with converts who were not formerly practicing Jews but Gentiles. One group believed they should all go through the rituals prescribed for Jews, but another group thought otherwise. The voice of Peter shines out in today’s passage — the voice of empathy and compassion. He basically told his hearers, “they have been saved through the grace of the Lord in the same way that we are.” The capacity for empathy is something we all could have more of. Given the so many tragedies and catastrophes that happen in many places all over the world, we can grow callous and indifferent to all that we see. But empathy is born of a common understanding of this reality: We were all saved through the grace of the Lord.  Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

How do I treat the people who seem to be living without God in their lives? Is it with scorn or with empathy?

 

Lord, grant me a compassionate heart so I may be able to respond to people and situations as You would want me to. Amen.

 

St. Mariana de Paredes, pray for us.