Do not depend on the hope of results… You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no results at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.
Thomas Merton
Compassion is built within us. We are a creation of God, and since everything that God does and creates is done with the utmost love and compassion, that same ability to love and to be compassionate is built within us. But that capacity to love and to be compassionate has been tarnished. In this fallen world, this capacity of love and compassion is often pushed aside and filled up with anger, and hate, and selfishness. We see this every day. We read about it. Every writer on this site has written about it from time to time – the fallen world we live in.
And ever more so, it is so easy to get discouraged today. All the terrorism, economic and political angst, the anger and violence. As I write this there has yet been another shooting. We live it in our families – families that are broken and split up, families that don’t talk or get together. All too often families are filled with anger and violence.
So where is this compassion and love that Moses speaks of in the first reading, that we all have in us, that we just need to carry it out? Where is this love and compassion for others? Where is the compassion of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel today? It’s almost as if people are only compassionate to one another if there is something in it for them – if they can benefit. How often have we done something good or nice for someone else because of the reward? Maybe it’s that good feeling, maybe it’s a pat on the back, or perhaps even a material benefit?
I’ve seen this in the corporate world, in the community, and even in the pew. I’ve seen it in families. Many times we treat our family members the worst. It seems as if that’s the straw that’s breaking the camel’s back in this day and age, is the breakdown of the family. The brokenness, the anger and resentment, the pettiness, the grudges. More families are split up now, fewer are going to church, and most are affected in some way by the challenges of society today. If we cannot be compassionate to our spouses, our children, our parents, our siblings – then how in the world are we going to be compassionate and loving to a stranger? How can we be compassionate to those who mean us harm?
If we have a motive or an agenda for every “good” thing we do in life – in our jobs, in the home, and in the community – and we’re always focusing on the result of the action, then we are missing the point of it all. This is why I lead off with the Thomas Merton quote, because it speaks to me every time I read it, and it’s worth reading often throughout every day.
It’s not about the result, it’s about the work. It’s about the process.
You see, it could have turned out real bad for the Good Samaritan. I remember reading a story in the news a few years ago where a pedestrian encountered what appeared to be a homeless person lying on the sidewalk, seeming to be hurt or maybe even dead. When the pedestrian knelt down to help, they were robbed by the person on the ground and another one that came from the shadows.
This could have happened to the Good Samaritan in the Gospel reading today. He could have been attacked by the man on the ground, or perhaps by the robbers. Perhaps he thought about all this. But he didn’t let that stop him. He didn’t think about the result of his action – good or bad – he simply thought of helping this man who had been beaten and left for dead. Oh, and by the way, the Samaritans and the Jewish people were basically enemies. If anyone had reason to walk on by, it was the Samaritan. But he didn’t.
It’s not about the result – it’s about doing what is right in the now – at any given moment. This is our gift, to know what is right and to have the ability to make the choice. But it is also our biggest challenge.
We have to follow the guidance in the Gospel, and in those words the Spirit spoke through Thomas Merton in the quote above, that it’s not about the result, but rather the work in and of itself.
Maybe you give money to the homeless person on the street. You give it out of compassion, not thinking about whether he will buy food with it, or alcohol. The choice is up to them. You give to them out of the love and compassion in your heart expecting nothing in return.
Maybe you don’t talk with your parents or a sibling. Maybe there’s been a lot of hurt in the past that has let resentment build. Maybe it’s a co-worker or a friend you’re feuding with. This is harder than the stranger on the street. How do you be the Good Samaritan in this situation? Perhaps this is more along the lines of the scenario in the Gospel today, where the Samaritan and the beaten man, a Jew – enemies of each other. Maybe this is why Jesus used this, because He knows it’s perhaps harder to have love and compassion for those we’re feuding with in our lives.
How, in this situation, with our enemies, and those in our families or the community who we’re fighting with – how do we have compassion and love and how do we do it from deep within our heart with no expected reward? How do we show compassion in the moment, and not be always focused on the result?
How, in some situations, can we show this compassion knowing that the other side may not show the same compassion and love back to you?
Because it’s the right thing to do. Simple as that. Is it hard? Yes. But it’s really that simple. We try to do what is right, and we ask God to help us with those times where we struggle to do the right thing, and treat others with compassion. We ask God for the grace to fill us in those times. We have to invest in time with Him. The more one builds their faith, the more time one spends communicating with Christ, the more we will be able to show compassion in these times where we encounter those bloodied, beaten people in our lives. The closer we get to Christ, and pray with Him, and build that relationship with Him, as Merton says, we’ll begin to see the value in doing the right thing regardless of the result.
Because even though the result may still hurt us from time to time, it’s the work – the work in doing the right thing – that fulfills us.
