Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - June 27, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
Relief workers speak of the difficulty of interesting well-off Westerners in the plight of inhabitants of drought-hit parts of Africa, or the treatment of women and children in many spots, of migrants lacking all the amenities and open to disease. Getting their/our attention is extremely difficult. They call it 'famine fatigue.' Through the capabilities of swift technology, we are so bombarded with pictures of the starving, slaughtered and suffering that we are no longer shocked or feel compassion.
We could probably speak of 'beggar fatigue' and 'disaster fatigue' also. After passing in the course of the day fifteen to twenty people asking for handouts, we necessarily develop some protective shield. Is this another paradox of modern technology? The more swiftly and easily we can communicate, the more indifferent we become to others?
The Christian must ask how we are to surmount this, what can we do to retain some sensitivity without being 'fatigued.' Praying for others in distress is often denounced as a cop-out, a substitute for action. But in so many cases, there is little or nothing we can do at the moment. Why not at least retain some sensitivity by turning our sympathy and the wrenching we should feel into a prayer?
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
