(Isa. 3:15)
The demand everywhere is for a church that is holding fast to the basic ideals of Christianity, as the apostle James has defined it: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).
There we have found a strong central authority … where emergency needs can be met in a way that fosters brotherhood, instead of a deadening process that is described, scripturally, as to “grind the faces of the poor” (Isa. 3:15).
(Harold B. Lee, Ensign, Dec. 1971, 29.)
There is so much of civil strife and conflict in our society that could be ameliorated by a small touch of mercy. Much of it has reached a point where the Mosaic law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has been enlarged to require three eyes for one eye and three teeth for one tooth. Many victims, badgered and broken, cry in vain for a touch of kindness.
We see labor strife fraught with violence and untamed accusations. Were there a greater willingness on the part of each side to look with some element of mercy on the problems of the other, most of this could be avoided.
We have recently been reminded that in this land there still persists, notwithstanding the protection of the law, a merciless exploitation of children in certain industries.
And there are still those, not a few, who without compassion “grind the faces of the poor” (Isa. 3:15).
(Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, May 1990, 69.)
One cannot ask God to help a neighbor in distress without feeling motivated to do something oneself toward helping that neighbor… . I heard a man of prominence say the other day, “I have amended the language of my prayers. Instead of saying, ‘Bless the poor and the sick and the needy,’ I now say, Father, show me how to help the poor and the sick and the needy, and give me resolution to do so… .
We must take care of the poor. Said the Lord, “The poor ye have with you always.” (See Mark 14:7; John 12:8). There have always been poor and I guess there always will be poor until the Millennium. We must take care of them… . We must not shift the burden that we ought to carry in our own hearts of spreading kindness and love and help to others, to the institution, which at best, is impersonal.
I do not want you to get any idea that I am saying we should not have the welfare program… . But I think there is a tendency among us to say, “Oh, the Church will take care of that. I pay my fast offering. Let the Church take care of that.” We need as individuals, I think, to reach down and extend a helping hand without notice, without thanks, without expectation of anything in return.
(Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997], 457–59.)