Compassion, from God’s Heart of Mercy – Br. Curtis Almquist

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Br. Curtis Almquist

Matthew 9:32-38

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Matthew 9:36-38).

What is this labor for which the laborers are so few? Here Jesus is inviting us to co-labor, to collaborate with him. And what is the labor? It is to be agents of God’s mercy.¹ Jesus has compassion for the crowds “because they were harassed and helpless.” And why was this the case? For the same reasons as today. People suffering from poverty in many forms: fear, loneliness, violation, powerlessness, discrimination, injustice, homelessness, hopelessness, hunger, and more.

Compassion, which is the gift of mercy, springs from the heart of God. In the absence of compassion, in absence of God’s tender loving mercy at work in our hearts, we will become what the scriptures call “hard hearted.”² Being “hard hearted” will affect all of our relationships: our relationship to our own self; our relationship to others; our relationship to God.

Here’s a suggestion for converting hard-heartedness into a heart of compassion. Start with an enemy: someone who is out to get you, or just someone who has a way of ruining your day (or ruining your life).³ Find a place where you can be quiet. Ask Jesus to shed light on the features of this person who has caused you such suffering, or irritation, or disappointment. Regard their qualities you despise or find insufferable. Try to imagine what makes this person happy and what causes suffering in their own daily life. Contemplate the person’s perceptions; try to see what patterns of thought and reason this person follows, because they are learned. Ask Jesus to see how their views and insights are open and free or not, and whether they themselves have been hurt by the experience of prejudice, narrow-mindedness, hatred, anger, or violation? What are they facing with each new day? You might continue your own version of this kind of pondering and prayer – what the scriptures call “enlightening the eyes of your heart”⁴ – until you feel the trickle of compassion rising within you, like a well beginning to fill with fresh water. You might need to practice this prayerful reflection many times concerning the same person before you move on. And you will. Because this gift of mercy is of the essence of God, and it may well be brought within your grasp through the very one whom you might otherwise find an obstacle.

For some of us, the prayer for compassion might need to begin with our own selves. If the truth be known, we can be our own worst enemy and we are prone to love others like we love ourselves. So your pondering and prayer begins with yourself, to seek a heart of merciful acceptance for yourself, as God knows you and loves you.

For some of us, the prayer for compassion may need to begin in our relationship with God. Perhaps you harbor resentment, or impatience, or residual apathy towards God. This is about compassion for God. (It must be very difficult to be God.)

I am not saying that compassion is the only way to navigate life. In the face of injustice, violation, or danger, sometimes we must intervene, we must be confrontative, protective, strong-willed; however, I am saying that without some degree of compassion in our hearts for other people, all people, we risk becoming the very thing we condemn or hate.

The wellspring of compassion flows from the heart of God, encircles us all, and flows back to God: a circle of life. At a time in our world so full of hardness of heart, and hurt, and hate, the grace of compassion – God’s “tender loving mercy” – can make a world of difference.

¹ Jesus says, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9:13).
² In the King James Version of the Bible, the word compassion is translated with the phrase, “for thy tender mercies sake.”
³ Br. Curtis is inspired by the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh in The Miracle of Mindfulness (1987), and by the Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello, SJ in The Way to Love (1992).
⁴ See Ephesians 1:18.