The kindness of a stranger

You want to see what it means to love one's neighbor? Marilyn Mock, who lives in the Dallas suburb of Rockwall, went to a foreclosure auction with her grown son last weekend to be with him as he purchased his first house. While there, she saw a woman sitting at the edge of the auction hall, sobbing. It was Tracy Orr, a housekeeper who was there to watch her humble house sold off to the highest bidder.

Marilyn couldn't stand it. She bought Tracy's house, sight unseen, and told her to move back home. Now Tracy will be paying her mortgage to Marilyn, not to the bank. If you go to the story, be sure to watch the video report from the scene. Tracy, through tears, says nobody's ever done anything like that for her before. And Marilyn is not a wealthy woman, it seems from the story.

More from CNN:

Mock says she's using one of her business dump trucks as collateral for the $30,000 sale price. "I can't afford to just give [the house] to her," she says.

As for Orr's payments, Mock says, "We'll just figure out however much she can pay on it. That way, she can have her house back."

Why be so generous?

"She was just so sad. You put yourself in their situation and you realize you just got to do something," says Mock, who says she has trouble walking by homeless people on the street and not helping them out.

"If it was you, you'd want somebody to stop and help you."

When she told her husband of 30 years that she'd just bought a home for a stranger, she says his reaction was: "Whatever."

"He's used to it," she says with a booming laugh.

Incredible. May we all have the love in our hearts that Marilyn Mock does. I am reminded of something Mother Teresa said:

At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in." Hungry not only for bread -- but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing -- but naked of human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a home of bricks --but homeless because of rejection.

Marilyn Mock gave Tracy Orr her home back. But as Tracy told the Dallas Morning News:

"More than my house, she gave me something inside, and that's more important than material or financial things."

The crisis breaking upon us gives all of us an opportunity to be kind to our neighbors. Few of us will have the resources, I'd wager, to do what Marilyn Mock did. But if she can do that, how much can we manage to do for those in need?