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Homily for the 29th Sunday of the Year - B – 2018What does it mean to have Christian compassion? Well, the Collins English Dictionary defines compassion in general in the following manner, it is: a feeling of distress and pity for the suffering or misfortune of another, often including the desire to alleviate it.Those of you with a background in Latin, will know that the origin of our word – compassion – is to be found in the Latin word (or words) com-passio, which literally means “to suffer with”… So we understand that the person who practices compassion shares in the suffering of, and shares the weight of, the burdens of those for whom they care, or to whom they minister in their distress.In that sense, compassion is an eminently altruistic virtue, it involves us going beyond ourselves and reaching out to another or to others, and indeed not only reaching out to them, but becoming involved with them, becoming identified with them, being at one with them in their hardship and struggle.It’s precisely this virtue that Jesus practices with such perfection, because as St. Paul says to us, of our Blessed Lord, in his Letter to the Hebrews: it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Let us be confident, then…”Jesus, is God, who, assuming our human nature, expresses the very heights of compassion – He experiences the weakness and misery of the human condition, shares in it truly and fully, in order to alleviate our suffering, in order to bring us hope, in order to redeem our humanity. In compassion He identifies with us by becoming one of us, and not only does He suffer with us, but He takes all of our suffering upon Himself, nails it to the Cross, destroys its power, and then rising from the tomb shows us the other side – what lies beyond suffering: the glory of new life, new hope, and endless joy, peace, and love… reserved not just for the next life, but something, indeed, that we can even begin to experience in this life!Jesus actually does more than just suffer with us – important as this is in us being able to relate intimately to our God and realise how much He loves us – but Jesus goes to the length of suffering for us… Himself taking on the burden of guilt and punishment due to us for our sins... If ever there were a sign of God’s love for us it is precisely this.Christian compassion, then, as opposed to any other form of compassion, is a deliberate choice for us to imitate Jesus Christ and the way that He has sacrificed Himself for us, by going out and sacrificing ourselves for the sake of others, and this, indeed, is how we should understand those words of Our Blessed Lord at the end of that passage of St. Mark’s Gospel that we’ve just listened to. Jesus is calling us to imitate His compassion, calling us to be compassionate and self-sacrificing in the love that we have to those around us, in the lengths that we go to in order to help them: anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.Indeed, when we have known suffering in our own lives, it should give us greater compassion for those around us who suffer. When we have felt the oppression of sickness, hurts, poverty, struggles, weakness and neediness, we should be all the more eager, all the more generous, to help bring comfort, hope, and consolation to our neighbour. And this, of course is where the Church, in Her wisdom, encourages us to engage in works of mercy, where our Christian compassion is given concrete and practical expression. Works of mercy both corporal and spiritual: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, burying the dead – and then – counselling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, comforting the afflicted, forgiving offences, bearing wrongs patiently and praying for the living and the dead.Whilst we can show this compassion ourselves, in our individual lives, in relation to others, there is a very beautiful organisation within the Body of Christ, a very beautiful organisation established in our own parish even, whose spirituality centres very much on the living of this virtue of compassion, and this organisation, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul – a group of sisters and brothers who support each other through a common spirituality and vision of engaging in works of compassion and mercy, reaching out and identifying with those who struggle, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. Perhaps it would be worth praying to God and asking if He wants you to be part of this beautiful organisation?Whether that is the case or not, we have it from Jesus’own mouth that we are all called to lives of Christian compassion, called to lives of service, love, and sacrifice… And it begins here, and always returns here… it begins here in the Holy Eucharist and returns to the mystery of the Holy Eucharist… Jesus pours Himself out for us here, gives Himself to us here – completely – and when we are nourished by Him, when we receive Him, we make Him a promise – we are promising to do the same for our sisters and brothers – to pour ourselves out for them, to give ourselves to them… May God, by His grace, and through the power of the Eucharistic Sacrifice we celebrate, enable us to be true to this promise of compassion that we make every time we receive Holy Communion or participate in Holy Mass. ................
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