Radical Compassion: Finding Christ in the Heart of the Poor

he had probably lain dead since Friday night.

It is worth the risks. Nothing is as wonderful as knowing that people who have been rejected by society for their entire life can find a moment of peace and happiness in the presence of someone who legitimately cares for them and has no other agenda but being with them.

Among the poor, we learn to internalize their suffering, and we are transformed into the heart of Christ.

She was unreachable, trapped on that vicious merry-go-round of mental illness: sickness, bizarre behavior, institutionalization, medication, stability, release, abandonment of medication regimen, sickness.

The three of us talked about God’s providence and how we have all been brought together. He asked me what providence meant. I explained, “It’s like when you have some good friends and you would like them to meet each other so that they can grow and love in each other’s presence; that is how God looks upon us and tries to enhance our lives.”

The napkins, on closer inspection, turned out to be neatly folded toilet paper.

God, I pray first of all for the brothers and sisters in this jail, that you might strengthen them. I pray for the people who come to the Downtown Chapel to get something to eat and for the staff that provides for them; I pray for all the poor; I pray in thanksgiving for all the people who help me here and for Father Gary, who comes to see me. Plea

Mara and I visited him today. He talked at length about belief and faith and God. “My resistance to God,” he said, “has always been rooted in my feelings of being dirty. Like I am always a leper. But I know that we are all lepers to some degree and that in spite of that God still loves us. In fact, Jesus spent a lot of time with lepers, didn’t he,

Things give meaning to the lives of people who are deprived of authentic human contact. It is not necessarily a quirk of the poor: the millionaire builds an ostentatious house; the CEO wears a Rolex; the politician has a few people in his pocket; the dictator has his disposable private army; the preacher surrounds herself with unread theology books