Monday, December 21, 2015 4th Week of Advent 1st Reading: Zep 3:14–18a Gospel: Lk1:39–45
Mary then set out for a town in the Hills of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with holy spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!” D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Our reflections throughout the Misa de Gallo days have been about “Mercy and Compassion”. We are done discussing about mercy in the past four days. Today we will begin our series of reflections on compassion.
“Compassion” derives itself from the combination of two Latin words “cum” and “passion”. “Com” is the Archaic form of the Latin “cum” (with), while “passion” is from the Latin “passus” which is the past participle of the verb “patior-pati-passus sum”. Notice that “compassion” and “patient” (sick person needing hospital care) share the same Latin origin “pati”. Compassion is deeply rooted in a situation of suffering. The Christian way of saying it is “suffering always invites compassion”. Compassion is the perfection of one’s awareness that he belongs to the “one body of Christ”. If we belong to one body, the suffering of one is the suffering of all. When Jesus gave his followers the marching order to love one another, he instituted compassion at the heart of Christianity. Because of this our reaction to the sufferings of others goes beyond pity and sympathy or even empathy. Compassion goes beyond these because it seeks with passion the alleviation of the sufferings of others as if these were his own. Jesus models the way. “Nothing in him is devoid of compassion” (Misericordiae Vultus). Jesus, seeing the crowds of people who followed him, realized that they were tired and exhausted, lost and without a guide, and he felt deep compassion for them (cf. Mt 9:36). On the basis of this compassionate love he healed the sick who were presented to him (cf. Mt 14:14), and with just a few loaves of bread and fish he satisfied the enormous crowd (cf. Mt 15:37). The Blessed Virgin showed her compassionate heart when she visited Elizabeth and stayed with her for three months. Mary lived with her to bear her burdens. Behold compassion at work! Like Son like mother! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website:www.frdan.org.
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