COMPASSION
Last Lent, I spent the time reading and meditating on Forgiveness. This year, I decided to follow up with Compassion, at least partly because the book club we belong to at St. Francis, had done several books on compassion, so I had a good start even before Lent. On the surface, it seemed like it would be pretty clear cut. Compassion is about empathy, the ability to feel “sorry” for someone. We all can work up compassion for an injured animal, a suffering mother, even if that mother belongs to an “enemy” group.
Well, surprise, surprise!! Compassion is about power. More specifically, how we use power. As we tread through this life we leave our footprints everywhere, wanted and unwanted. The careless word, the impatient moment all affect others. Often, we are so involved in our own needs and wants, we don’t even notice.
Compassion is about the conscious decision to tread softly, with awareness. We will guard our words, our actions so as to lift and complete those around us. We will subvert our own pressing needs to spend an extra second listening. Being heard is less important than hearing.
And the best news is that Compassion is not something you have or don’t have. It is developed. C. S. Lewis writes about putting on the cloak of Christ. He says (paraphrased badly) that on a bright, glorious morning the cloak slips on easily and you are ready to embrace the world. The struggle comes on those mornings when you are tired, your knees hurt and the last thing you want to do is greet anyone. But you make a decision to put the cloak on and greet the world with faked joy and a forced smile. You do that morning after morning, until one morning you can’t put the cloak of Christ on, because it never came off. It is now a part of you, and the faked joy has become real joy and the forced smile is genuine. And in the process you have become a compassionate human being.