“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15 ESV)
Mary Jo Meadows defines compassion as "the quivering of the heart in response to another's suffering" and notes that "compassionate beings… cannot bear to see suffering and remain unengaged." Compassion is the quality of being able to "get inside the skin of another" in order to respond with loving concern and care. Jack Kornfield writes about the truly loving person breathing in the pain of the world and breathing out compassion. That is how deep compassion is, and how closely connected to others.
Each life influences and affects the other in some way. The more we see our world as a vast interconnectedness of all beings, the more drawn we will be to compassion because we will see how much one life is related to and affected by another. This spiritual oneness is at the heart of Christianity. Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. We are the body of Christ (John 15; 1 Corinthians 12). The life pulsing through us is the life of God giving us spiritual vitality.
Probably no quality more identifies a Christian than that of compassion.
-- Joyce Rupp in “The Cup of Our Life”
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