Compassion in Christianity
Thomas Merton, a Trappist (Catholic) monk, spoke these words a couple hours before his final breath:
“Compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.”
“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.”
- Henri Nouwen, Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian, and author of Compassion: Reflections on a Christian Life.