The Church - A Compassionate Community

The Lord will never be too busy to attend to our need. He will never tell us: oh, what you are asking of me is too insignificant. For Him there is no big or small.

We can come to Him with all our needs, and we ourselves have to be people of compassion. We have to treat each other with that same mercy.

Our churches should be places of refuge, places of compassion, places of healing where people can come with any situation or dilemma, whatever it may be.

The Church of Jesus Christ has to be a compassionate, merciful community; that he cares for the needy, that he deal with people in their brokenness and imperfections with the same mercy with which Christ treated that multitude that we saw in the previous meditation.

The hallmark of God's people should be compassion and grace. That is why the apostle Paul admonishes us: "Let your gentleness be known to all men." He also says in another passage: "Brothers, when any of you is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual, correct him with a spirit of meekness, looking at yourself, lest you also be tempted."

By being aware of our own humanity, we can also treat others with great compassion, with great mercy. That should be the hallmark of every believer and of every community of faith, the compassion and mercy that Christ himself manifests.

Let us be people of mercy and grace, like our heavenly Father.