Compassion

This week, Matthew tells us that Jesus had compassion.

 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”(Mat 9:36-38)

What is compassion?

Henri Nouven defines compassion as “to suffer with”. It is to suffer with those who suffer; to share in their pain and brokenness; to be human.

“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish”. Henri M Nouven

For Mother Theresa, compassion is understanding the suffering of the people.

How many of us can actually do it?

Both Henri Nouven and Mother Theresa tell us that it is really hard because our spontaneous response to suffering is to flee from it.

Compassion HM Nouven explains is “ not a bending toward the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not a reaching out from on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull”. It is rather sharing in their powerlessness.  He said Christ came down in all humility and powerlessness to be with us – building his home among us – suffering as we suffer and more. It is God with us – Emmanuel, who reaches out to us in our suffering and pain.

Mother Theresa explains that it is not easy to share in the pain of others. We cannot do it “through worldly eyes” but if we see “through eyes of a pure heart” we can see God in them. She says that only through a deep communion with God in prayer can one give until it hurts. It is through prayer that we see God in each other.

What does this mean for us?

Our calling, Mother Theresa tells us that “The Good News is that God still loves the world” and He loves the world “through each one of us”. We are the vessel of compassion to the world.

“We have been created in his image. We have been created to love and be loved, and then he has become man to make it possible for us to love as he loved us. Mother Theresa

Henri Nouven explains that “We all are bruised reeds, whether our bruises are visible or not. The compassionate life is the life in which we believe that strength is hidden in weakness and that true community is a fellowship of the weak.”  (Henri Nouwen, “Not Breaking the Bruised Reeds,” Bread for the Journey, March 17 selection)