By Henri Nouwen, Donald McNell & Douglas Morrison
Compassion’s main message is understanding what Christ’s compassion truly means; com (with) pati (to suffer) – to suffer with. Here are two of my takeaways:
- a) Jesus is a God of compassion. When we say “Immanuel”, we know Jesus suffers with us. Thus, I am called to have compassion everywhere I go, with anyone I encounter.
- b) I frequently think I have no time to pray. However, this tells me that I’m in charge, not God. Prayer submits myself to the Lord and asks Him to work his compassion.
We can apply this book’s message by seeing the “invisible” around us; the bus driver, the cashier, the toilet cleaner, the tissue aunty… We can better understand his heart, and in obedience be transformed to love, and follow Him.
By Joshua Yee, SJC Member