When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Christian ethics and theology with an Anabaptist perspective
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MaxPC
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When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Post by MaxPC »

A homily on this topic appeared recently and I immediately thought of the experiences with Covered One in Ireland. The homily started with:
If you have hands-on experience with the (poor, mentally ill, homeless, and addicts) who rejected your good intentions at “helping them,” then you will understand the Gospels in their complexity and entirety.
What is the Anabaptist view of this type of experience, when those you are trying to help reject that help and perseverate in their behaviors?
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Max (Plain Catholic)
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RZehr
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Re: When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Post by RZehr »

It is good to always remember two things.

1st is that the great healer is not here in body, and now we are the body of Christ, working as Gods hands and feet, not ourselves. Therefor the rejection is a rejection of Gods goodness, not me personally. 1 Corinthians 12:15

2nd we are doing it for Gods glory, not ourselves. We are doing it for God, not the recipient. Therefor how the person receives it is not the primary measure. The question is, "Did I please God?" and not "Is this person grateful?" Matthew 25:40
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Bootstrap
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Re: When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Post by Bootstrap »

RZehr wrote:It is good to always remember two things.

1st is that the great healer is not here in body, and now we are the body of Christ, working as Gods hands and feet, not ourselves. Therefore the rejection is a rejection of Gods goodness, not me personally. 1 Corinthians 12:15

2nd we are doing it for Gods glory, not ourselves. We are doing it for God, not the recipient. Therefore how the person receives it is not the primary measure. The question is, "Did I please God?" and not "Is this person grateful?" Matthew 25:40
Amen. Well, mostly - I think we do serve out of love for the recipient as well as love of God, and compassion is an important theme in the New Testament. But I agree that it is God's judgment that matters.

Sometimes my judgment and God's judgment are not the same, and sometimes I am really not called to a particular situation. It's important to be sensitive to that as well. Ultimately, they get to decide what they want, I am a servant, not a parent or a judge. I can love other people, I cannot control them.

And what I do is always only a small part of the picture. Jesus is the savior of the world, I am not. My job is to serve as God leads, not to control the outcome. God has many other servants who can do their part, I have only partial insight into someone else's life, and another person's life unfolds over many years. My job is to ask God and the person involved how I can best be a servant, to serve and to love and to pray for wisdom, and to put the rest in God's hands.
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MaxPC
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Re: When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Post by MaxPC »

RZehr wrote:It is good to always remember two things.

1st is that the great healer is not here in body, and now we are the body of Christ, working as Gods hands and feet, not ourselves. Therefor the rejection is a rejection of Gods goodness, not me personally. 1 Corinthians 12:15

2nd we are doing it for Gods glory, not ourselves. We are doing it for God, not the recipient. Therefor how the person receives it is not the primary measure. The question is, "Did I please God?" and not "Is this person grateful?" Matthew 25:40
Amen and amen :D :up:
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Max (Plain Catholic)
Mt 24:35
Proverbs 18:2 A fool does not delight in understanding but only in revealing his own mind.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God
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Re: When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Post by Bootstrap »

The original article seems to be here: Sacrificial Ministry is Incomplete Without the Cross (on the Big C Catholics site).

It has a lot of good things to say:
Caution: This article concerns working with the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill and addicts. If your experience of this kind of ministry is limited to the occasional conference talk on social justice in an air-conditioned building, bolstered by small group discussions followed by a tasty lunch, you won’t appreciate it.

If you have hands-on experience with the above-mentioned population, who rejected your good intentions at “helping them,” then you will understand the Gospels in their complexity and entirety.

For most Christians, the seminal Gospel passage often quoted regarding social justice and ministry to the poor is Matthew 25:35-40: “‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

This Gospel makes clear the various acts to be performed, but the sacrificial act of ministry is not complete without the cross. For ministry to be fruitful the mystery of the cross looms behind every act of charity. An act of love, met with the rejection of the intended recipient, if united with the suffering of Jesus on the cross, can produce spiritual fruit more efficacious than any pious sermon on the preferential option for the poor.
Jesus’ act of charity is met with ingratitude, betrayal and suffering. But, did Jesus stop healing the sick? No.

So, what do you do when the sandwich you offer the hungry man is thrown with contempt in the garbage? You still feed the hungry. When the water you offer the thirsty one is left behind for alcohol? You still give water to the thirsty. When the clothes you offer the poor family are exchanged for drugs? You still give clothes to the poor. When you offer kindness and compassion to the mentally ill or addicts and they calumniate you? You remain kind and compassionate. But, most importantly, you pray to the Father from the depths of your soul uniting your frustration, hurt feelings and misunderstood intentions to Jesus so that He may elevate those acts of charity to the supernatural heights of mercy which we alone, without the cross, are unable to accomplish.

From those heights a shower of grace descends upon the poor, which a mere sandwich, bottle of water, pair of boots or kind smile was unable to achieve by itself. Such is the complexity of social justice and ministry to the poor. Not every recipient of charity is ungrateful, obviously. And many will be kind, pleasant and enjoyable. But don’t let those who betray you and hurt your feelings stop you from performing the good works of the Kingdom.

Jesus didn’t stop. And neither did the saints.
I agree with this article.
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PetrChelcicky
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Re: When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Post by PetrChelcicky »

Well, compassion will ask: Is the recipient more content/happy now than he was before my intervention?
And if he is, everything is okay. He may be ungrateful - gratefulness is a rare gift -, but why should this bother me?
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temporal1
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Re: When Your Acts of Mercy Are Rejected

Post by temporal1 »

MaxPC wrote:A homily on this topic appeared recently and I immediately thought of the experiences with Covered One in Ireland. The homily started with:
If you have hands-on experience with the (poor, mentally ill, homeless, and addicts) who rejected your good intentions at “helping them,” then you will understand the Gospels in their complexity and entirety.
What is the Anabaptist view of this type of experience, when those you are trying to help reject that help and perseverate in their behaviors?
you’re not seeking my view, if i intrude, please cast me aside .. “omnium gatherum” would be a pleasant fall. :)

regarding your OP quote, i’m struggling with (acting in mercy) to those not poor, not mentally ill, not homeless, not addicted. :-|

i pray to find good words, and, not too many; to be led to actions that will encourage grateful hearts. we speak+act, but the Holy Spirit determines outcomes.

gratitude and hopefulness are key to Jesus’ message, regardless of earthly circumstances. Jesus offers these freely to those who seek Him; this makes Him eternally relevant.

i do not believe in atheists.
i do not believe in the notion of a “post-Christian” world.
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Most or all of this drama, humiliation, wasted taxpayer money could be spared -
with even modest attempt at presenting balanced facts from the start.


”We’re all just walking each other home.”
UNKNOWN
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