Lately I have been reflecting on the word compassion.  It seems to be a popular word of late but what does it truly mean and more importantly what does it look like when it is a guiding force in our lives?   A quick search finds Wikipedia defining compassion like this; Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others.  I appreciate how Wikipedia includes compassion towards the self which is often left out.  I sense that we really need to get right with ourselves and our God before taking compassion out into the world. 

My favorite modern day mystic Fr. Richard Rohr speaks of compassion this way; Much of the early work of contemplation is discovering a way to observe ourselves from a compassionate and nonjudgmental distance until we can eventually live more and more of our lives from this calm inner awareness and acceptance. In a contemplative stance, we find ourselves smiling, sighing, and weeping at ourselves, much more than needing either to hate or to congratulate ourselves—because we are finally looking at ourselves with the eyes of God.  So beautiful and true, I often notice myself and my loved ones evolving in baby steps with loving insight and awareness of the self.  Judgement is a programed modern-day response as we observe ourselves and others.  I think witnessing this and perhaps lovingly redirecting attention and awareness back to the heart and energy of compassion rather than the judgement of the mind is a worthwhile practice. Judging mind has been with us for a very long time, it will take commitment to rewrite our story and rechannel our energy.

 In fact, author Matthew Fox reminds us; Compassion is everywhere. Compassion is the world’s richest energy source.   I truly think a big part of Jesus’s ministry was to be the way or to point us to the way. His way was love and peace.  He taught about compassion by his own example. Jesus was a perfect teacher who taught and modeled right use of energy through his own lifestyle. I feel Jesus would like us to walk in his way much more than to worship him, and Fr. Richard agrees; I believe that we rather totally missed Jesus’ major point when we made a religion out of him instead of realizing he was giving us a message of simple humanity, vulnerability, and nonviolence that was necessary for the reform of all religions—and for the survival of humanity. We need to dedicate our lives to building bridges, (and not walls).  

The walls that we create around our hearts, around what we feel is ours or owed to us are to me the opposite of compassion and represent a major human issue, which is ego dominance.   Ego in itself is not bad, it is how we define who we are.  It becomes a problem when the ego gets inflated and it the primary footing that one lives their lives from… protecting, defending.  narrow vision that does not have the capacity to truly see or tolerate the other. 

Interestingly the best ‘cure’ for overidentifying with one’s ego is increasing awareness of one’s patterns and approaching the ego with compassion.  Giving ourselves and others, a bit of space or big picture thinking can loosen the intensity and reactivity of the ego.   We are asked to release the small narrowness of fear and our own significance and trade these in for the more spacious and unifying quality of love and compassion as modeled by Jesus.  Jesus who often worked to build bridges between his followers and all people.

Compassion is intimately tied to or embraced by this umbrella quality of love.  A bible verse I fell in love with as a young girl attending weddings was the infamous 1 Corinthians 13:1-8; If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.

There is so much depth to these verse that point to how important it is to keep the ego in check…if I give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.   This speaks to the modern man and all his business, accomplishing and accumulating.  I’ve heard of people buying very large homes for show but not being able to furnish them, living inside with many empty rooms, baron on the inside.  Like a house or life built on an illusion of abundance when in reality the soul is starving and withering, unaware of what it truly needs to thrive.

So, I ask you to ponder what does compassion in action look like.  Clue, remember Jesus would rather us to be more like him than to elevate him.   How could we walk with him with a bit more purpose and blessed assurance that would make us walk a bit taller with eyes and hearts open?  I have to admit that I have read  1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 ( the love is passages) with a bit of a hollow heart, or an ego that is diminished and not empowered by God.  You see I have often felt that my husband does not view me like this and it wounds me.   But,  I am the one allowing the wounding, the feelings of unworthiness are part of my story and mine that I tend to color in shades of blue and unlove.  What if I could rewrite this story in only the way I can with Jesus walking beside me reminding me that I am worthy and that I can do his work here by acting out his love story.  I can act out the ‘love is’ story with my husband, with my children and with all that I encounter.  You see He has given me a template, who am I to not put aside my small self and small hurts and to not act with compassion and love towards myself and all of God’s people.  I choose love, as it always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.   Compassion is a practice just like exercising our muscles or remembering that we are given God’s grace and compassion through Jesus; we must walk in it always. 

In closing, let us loop back to what Matthew Fox says about compassion; Compassion is everywhere. Compassion is the world’s richest energy source.  We live in a world that speaks frequently and loudly about scarcity and lack on so many levels.  This scarcity story, which was reinforced by the pandemic, is just that a story perhaps to keep people small and powerless or fighting for who they are and amplifying the individual and collective ego?  Can we put this story aside because really is it true?  I like to base my absolute truths on what Jesus modeled for us and envisioned for us and to choose a life where compassion truly is the richest energy source.  A world where we all can be taught by great teachers to get right with ourselves and God. Ultimately, we must do the work individually in contemplation of our choosing to remember that we are not broken, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus and the kingdom of God is right here on earth within us and all around us.   I see you, you are whole and holy, now walk like it.  This is enough.