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Suggested Reflection
1. What does it mean to have "compassion"? Please look up the etymology in a dictionary, to assist in discerning its meaning experientially.
2. What is meant by choosing "downward movement toward solidarity"? What is "solidarity" in relationships? In a spiritual communion of persons?
3. Relate my story, below, to the quote from Nouwen, below, and your personal experience?
4. How does "downward mobility" evidence in the life of Christ, as given in Philippians 2, in the Christian New Testament?
5. Are you willing to surrender your rights to identify with the needs of other persons, even when you have a personal right to assert your rights?
Wisdom Saying
Compassion, as a downward movement toward solidarity instead of an upward movement toward popularity, does not require heroic gestures or a sensational turnaround. In fact, the compassionate life is mostly hidden in the ordinariness of everyday life.
*Henri J. M. Nouwen, Here and Now.
Comments
Today, I got a letter from a woman I only met last evening. She is a deeply spiritual woman. She is not into religion. I wondered why she wanted to get to know, then, a religious leader. She explained why.
That was last evening. Now, let us forward to this morning, just minutes ago ...
Have you heard this .... God is in the details. One little detail is I have been going through a situation that has challenged me as person and leader. It has been stressful. My friend's letter this morning, without her knowing any details of the situation I refer to, was so wisely and heartfully instructive, as she spoke of her growth spiritually.
I was so overwhelmed, here sitting in my office chair. It was as though God had said to her, "Hey, write this down. That guy you just met, he needs to hear this."
Her words were the Word of God. Her confession of her experience was a link to the Divine.
I wrote her, affirming the experience of her compassionate ministry to me. She was Christ, through her awe of and love for our Love~Source. Her tethering to Christ, led me back more surely and gracefully into the Heart of the Beloved. Amen.
We can get lost in the details. Or we can be discovered by God in the details. We choose. Christ waits.
Love!
Brian K. Wilcox
May 11, 2007
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