Clinic Cases March 2019
Divine knowledge is always rooted in the details of ordinary life. The aim of knowledge or visionary ecstasy is to increase the power of hesed [steadfast love] and compassionate action…. It is alive with the awareness of the holiness of creation and boundlessness of God’s mercy, and is utterly honest about the necessity of living such awareness in loving service to all beings… With great knowledge and love come great responsibility to try to represent the Divine in all things and activities, and to stand up for justice and the dispossessed in a brutal society.
Rabbi Rami Shapiro
The Hebrew word that comes much closer to our theological concept of “grace” is the word hesed. It is a very rich and active word that is much deeper than just “mercy” or “lovingkindness,” as it is usually translated, and maybe even “grace” as we understand it. Hesed is to love as God loves. Based in a covenantal relationship, hesed is sometimes translated “unfailing love,” which endures to eternity.
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HesedLongActingLove.html
Hesed is difficult to translate because it stands for a cluster of ideaslove, mercy, grace, kindness. It wraps up in itself all the positive attributes of God.
Hesed is one of the Lord’s most treasured characteristics.
Hesed is one of the richest, most powerful words in the Old Testament. It reflects the loyal love that people committed to the God of the Bible should have for one another
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Imagine a world in which hesed ruled the thoughts of men, a world devoid of poverty, envy, religious and ethnic conflicts, a world dedicated to the commonweal, a world in which drugs were not needed to numb the raw realities of human existence, in short, a world that adhered to the tenet that all men, created in the image and likeness of God, have to reflect that image to one another, have to be, if you will, as God to one another. This is surely what Our Lord meant when He exhorted men to realize that the kingdom of God was among them. Our human dignity does not depend on our achievements, physical aspect, intellectual endowment but on the fact that we are created and loved unconditionally and infinitely by the same Father, that we are indwelled by His Spirit, that each of us is a tabernacle in which the Divine Presence reaches out to console and succor others.
Looking at our world today, with its myriad and overwhelming problems and vicissitudes, how can we bring about or realize hesed? How and where do we begin? Can one person really make a difference? Saint Teresa of Calcutta answered our doubts about our ability to make a difference in the world when she said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and start with the one nearest to you.” In other words do not be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task but endeavor to help those in your purview that require love and understanding. It could be a wayward son or daughter, a troubled spouse, a despairing friend. The enormity of the world’s problems will remain but by consoling and loving one person at a time, we diminish the world’s distress, however miniscule it may seem. The children of the world are born without prejudice, without malice toward others, without self-seeking behaviors. They are born with hesed. I have said many times that our home for children should not exist. No child should be deprived of medical care because of poverty. No child should be deprived of a loving and nurturing environment because of adverse social circumstances. We have to foster hesed in the children of the world so that the conditions that deprive children of their basic rights today will cease to exist in the future. Lord, open our eyes that we may see you in our brothers and sisters.
Lord, open our ears that we may hear the cries of the hungry, the cold, the frightened, the oppressed.
Lord, open our hearts that we may love each other as you love us.
Renew in us your spirit.
Lord, free us and make us one.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta
As always we are grateful for your support of our children. We love you and wish you God’s peace.