The serious and sometimes satirical reflections of a priest, poet, and pilgrim —
who knowing he has not obtained the goal, presses on in a Godward direction.
Charitable feelings are of no use
without acts of charity.
Compassionate feelings are of no use
without acts of compassion.
Loving feelings are useless
unless they lead to acts of love.
The Priest and Levite may well have felt sorry
for the wounded man
as they steered a course past him,
and the Samaritan who stopped to help
may have been muttering
under his breath
at the inconvenience
the whole time.
How they felt
was immaterial to the wounded man.
Tobias Haller BSG
“a clear-sighted companion.... If you are passionate about the vitality of today’s church, I encourage you to accompany him on his mystagogical excursion into the liturgical landscape. You will rediscover a familiar place rife with fresh provisions planted by the God who longs to feed our deepest hungers and hopes.” —Jay Koyle, chair, Faith, Worship and Ministry of The Anglican Church of Canada
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7 comments:
Right on.
(As usual.)
Yes. Thank you for this, Tobias.
I think your thought is the gist of the story recently told by Steve Lopez in his book The Soloist. If you or anyone haven't seen the talk he gave at All Saints, check out the link at Susan Russell's here. What was striking about it was how honest Steve was about his mixed motives and frustrations in trying to help someone who was, at first, the stranger on the side of the road. Yet he did what he did by simply going forward and doing what he could. Reminded me of Sara Miles' book, Take This Bread. Of course the principles apply to everyone -- not just the homeless -- just step in and help. Period. Right here. Right now. Not sure why it is sometimes so hard to do just that.
Amen indeed. I am sitting here reading your post and watching "Because the Bible Told Me So."
Amen!
Tobias, I'd like to post your "Thought For the Day" whole and entire on my blog as a reminder to me, giving you full credit, of course. I think it is wise and wonderful. No hard feelings if you'd rather I didn't.
Mais bien sûr, ma chère Mimi!
Right. A very Jewish perspective, by the way!
Which makes perfect sense, since Jesus was a Jew to the end and it is from the heart of his tradition that he told this story.
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