GIVING THANKS – FOR COMPASSION

A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

                                                           John 1:5

               I once heard a description of heaven and hell that has stayed with me.  I have no idea of its origins.  It goes like this:  In hell, there is a great banquet laid, with all of the most wonderful food that you can imagine, and everyone is gathered around the table.  But no one is eating.  They cannot feed themselves because their arms don’t bend at the elbow.  They are eternally tempted but unable to enjoy.  In heaven, the same feast is laid, and everyone is gathered around the table.  They are laughing and talking and eating and enjoying themselves.  Their arms don’t bend at the elbow either, but instead of worrying about feeding themselves, everyone is feeding their neighbor. 

               So it is in life.  When we are concerned about ourselves, and whether we have our share (whatever that might be) and whether it is as much as the folks next door have, we are doomed to unhappiness, to dissatisfaction.  When we only give of our leftovers, after we have “enough,” there is never “enough.” But when look to others, when we see their need and offer to them something of ourselves, a listening ear, a meal, a spare coat, some labor to fix the house, some time together, a place to stay, a refuge from the storm, financial help, then we know our own blessings, and the blessings of fellowship.  As the prayer attributed to St. Francis teaches us, “It is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” 

Rembrandt, The Good Samaritan