Compassion

We have received the command to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and love our neighbor as ourselves. The most difficult part of this commandment is to love our neighbors. The love that God is referring to is not a mushy sort of love, but a love of action. One could say it is a call to be compassionate. Webster’s dictionary defines compassion as a consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. We are usually aware of others’ distress, but how we choose to respond to that knowledge is what makes the difference. It is hard to want to reach out to those who frustrate us. When we see those people that infuriate us in trouble it can be easy to just want to walk away. However, we are called to be people of compassion. When someone in school is being excluded from activities or being picked on we must act. It is in our action to help alleviate the distress that we are compassionate. We have been called to be a compassionate people. Looking at the news over the last few months one can see that the need for compassion is great at this time. We must reach out and love our neighbors as we love ourselves showing them compassion in our actions. We must bring compassion into our schools making them an inviting atmosphere.

Carrie Aimers, Retreat Minister