If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him…. The people who give you their food give you their heart.
—César Chávez
Theologian Karen González recalls meeting a woman who acted with compassion, regardless of her outspoken beliefs about specific policies.
I saw Mrs. Fisher standing in the lobby [with her friend] before I had even exited the elevator. It was her second visit to our immigration clinic, and … [I] prepared myself to receive an earful. True to form, she let me know that she did not approve of the work my organization does to advocate for immigration policy reform. “Why do you all have to be so political?” she asked….
Mrs. Fisher was an enigma to me—she expressed clear xenophobic tendencies, a fear of the “other,” the foreigner, often based in ethnocentrism. But in action she was generous and even hospitable—not the hosting-a-dinner-party kind but the one described in the Bible as philoxenia, the love of foreigners. This love is not sentimental or a one-time act but a way of living, a code of values that involves caring for foreign people.
On her first visit, she had brought a different immigrant friend, a woman who was her housekeeper, to renew her work permit. Her friend had been putting off the renewal because she did not want to lose half a day’s income by coming to see a legal adviser, so Mrs. Fisher had offered to pay her not to clean her house. Instead, she drove her to our immigration clinic herself, parked downtown in an expensive garage, and waited with her through the consultation. Later, she returned with her to file the actual petition. For someone who was so rabidly against welcoming immigration policies, she had given of her time, money, and other resources to assist two different people who needed immigration legal support. I know people who verbally support refugees and other immigrants who have not done half as much to assist a single immigrant person!
González refers to a parable in Matthew’s Gospel (21:28–30), highlighting the role of compassionate action in our spiritual growth:
According to Jesus’s explanation … it is the good deed that counts, not the yes with good intentions…. [Mrs. Fisher] was doing God’s will, but did she believe God’s words about welcoming and doing justice for the immigrant?
It is impossible for me to know, because I never saw her again. Yet, I would not be surprised if she had, because it has been my experience that we often practice ourselves into new ways of being and believing. I always thought that belief precedes action, and sometimes it does. But all too often, it is practices that shape us, that change our beliefs and help us internalize them in ways that are transformative. We learn by doing. I wonder if Mrs. Fisher now proclaims hospitality in addition to practicing hospitality. I hope so.
Reference:
Karen González, Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration (Brazos Press, 2022), 70, 71–73.
Image credit and inspiration: Lucas Dalamarta, Untitled (detail), 2024, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. When engaging with an unknown being we practice holding space for the other and leading with an open heart, even when we don’t know the outcome.
Story from Our Community:
Many years ago, I was diving deep into my faith when I had a spiritual insight on an airplane. I had been reflecting on God’s eternal love for all of humanity. As we waited for everyone to deplane, I saw each person as totally and unconditionally loved by God. Of course, they were all strangers to me, but not to God. Often, when I’m in public—or getting off another plane—I recall that experience and feel a sense of deep peace.
—Christy M.
