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
#3358
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
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I love today's Sound Bite! I have a son who works for Compassion International and I have seen what a heart he and the other folks have for those precious children and their families. This description of "compassion" describes well the work they do.
ReplyDeleteThank you, barb F.