In the past several years the word “transactional” has entered political discourse in a major way. A transactional realtionship is one which is focused on “what’s in it for me.” The reality was always there (in Chicago they call it “quid pro quo”) but instead of being something done clandestinely, it has moved out into the open as respectable. The gospel challenges us to think beyond the transactional and to be motivated by compassion and charity. St. Paul puts it: Do nothing out of selfishness … each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others. Jesus in the gospel says “when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” What would happen if a politiical today asked us to think about the common good and not about my personal benefit?
