The Tuna Sandwich

Here's a little story for you. It's the memory of a woman about her days at school. "One day at lunch time, I was getting ready to eat my same old tuna fish sandwich and suddenly Mrs. Amatuli, my fourth grade teacher, asked me if she could buy my sandwich from me. She explained that I could use the money she would give me to buy a hot lunch from the cafeteria. I was thrilled. I never bought my lunch at the cafeteria. It was too expensive for my family.

"You can understand my delight when I had the opportunity to buy a hot lunch. Kids always complained about the cafeteria food but I was very envious of them. It sure looked good to me. When we finished lunch that day, Mrs. Amatuli took me aside and said she wanted to explain why she had bought my sandwich. You see, she was Catholic and she told me that Catholics didn't eat meat on Fridays.

"I couldn't wait to get home and tell my Mama that from now on I wanted tuna fish on Fridays. After my Mama understood why, she gladly fixed tuna fish for me on Fridays. From then on, every Friday I could get in line with the rest of the kids for a hot lunch. I didn't care how many of the kids complained about cafeteria food –it tasted divine to me!

"I realize now that Mrs. Amatuli could have fixed herself a tuna sandwich on Friday. But she bought my sandwich because she saw a little girl who was thrilled over the simple act of having a hot lunch. I will never forget her for her compassion and generosity."

An Act of Mercy

That's nice you might say. Yes, it is nice and it's more than nice. It's a wonderful act of mercy. This teacher had her eyes wide open. She saw a little girl, who to others seemed to be getting on just fine, but who actually felt very different and isolated from the other children. The teacher then allowed what she saw to move her heart, and so made the decision to do something about the little girl's situation. And, as we heard, she made such a difference to that little girl.

Most of us do not get the chance to do large and outstanding acts of mercy. But the chances for small but significant acts of mercy face us almost every day. The only thing required is that we stay awake to the possibilities that daily cross our paths. We do this by practicing awareness.

Imagination

The first, and perhaps the most important step to becoming aware, is to actively start using our imagination. When we use our imagination in a positive and creative way we will find ourselves entering more deeply into the inner lives of other people. This is so because our imagination helps us to understand how others feel about themselves and what they really need from us. The happy and satisfied marriage or friendship is one where the partners are able, through their imagination, to discover what the other person needs at any particular time.

Many times we don't want to tell each other what we need. For some reason, we'd rather suffer through some situation by ourselves. We do this for many different reasons. At these times, mercy is what is needed, and mercy comes from our being able to imagine what our partner deeply needs.

A More Global Level

It's also true, that our imagination can work at many different levels. There is a global level as well as a personal level. When we hear of people, perhaps even people in other countries, who are in desperate need of some kind of help, we have a choice. We can allow our imagination to draw us into their world, or we can simply draw the blind over the eyes of our soul and refuse to allow the pain of the other to touch us. It's true that we can't help everybody, but it's also true that usually we can help somebody. Every act of mercy counts.

A Dark Side

There's a dark side to today's gospel that we also have to keep in mind. And that consists in the non-action of the priest and the Levite. They made a choice not to do anything. Many of us sin, not by what we do, but by what we don't do. Our refusal to see the pain of others; our refusal in allowing our imaginations to connect us to the real needs of others; our turning away from people in need—these are the sins we commit.

Hopefully, we will not allow ourselves to be counted among those who pass by on the other side. May we allow the Lord to mold our hearts into strong and merciful instruments of kindness and compassion.