Remaining Faithful with Rev. Mary White
Good Afternoon and Blessings
Compassion is a noteworthy human characteristic. A quality with which I believe we are all born but our ego takes prominence as we learn other ways of being. We are all aware of those who live a compassionate life. They are the people in our lives who altruistically nurture others with loving-kindness. And when we part, we feel loved unconditionally. Compassionate people seem to have no ego; they value and appreciate life in all living things and cause no harm.
Keep safe, Keep connected.
Blessings and the strength of Love be with you.
Rev. Mary
Reading excerpt from “The Only Necessary Thing”
by Henri Nouwen
It is in solitude that compassionate solidarity grows. In solitude we realize that nothing human is alien to us, at the root of all conflict, war, injustice, cruelty, hatred, jealousy, and envy are deeply anchored in our own heart. In solitude our heart of stone can be turned into a heart of flesh, a rebellious heart into a contrite heart, and a closed heart into a heart that can open itself to all suffering people in a gesture of solidarity.
If you would ask the desert for fathers why solitude gives birth to compassion, they would say “Because it makes us die to our neighbour“ At first this answer seems quite disturbing to a modern mind. But when we give it a closer look, we can see that in order to be of service to others we have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others. To die to our neighbours means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to become compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgement because judgement creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.
Prayer
Compassionate Spirit
As you draw me ever deeper into your heart, I discover that my companions on the journey are women and men loved by you as intimately as I am.
In your compassionate heart, there is a place for us all. No one is excluded.
Give me a share in your compassion, dear One, so that your unlimited love may become visible in the way I love my brothers and sisters.
Amen