5TTH FEBRUARY 2022
COMPASSION AND LOVE
Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
The Gospel of today teaches us a wonderful lesson about our relationship with other people surround us should be. In the Gospel Jesus feels the love and compassion for the people who were looking for Him and wanted Him to teach them.
The context of the Gospel of today is that the disciples went two by two, in communion as Jesus sent them. They did a lot and followed all the instructions and conditions Jesus asked them. They did their mission in the name of Jesus and with communion with one another. They preached the Good News, the Gospel to people in different places and called for repentance because of the Kingdom of God. They also cast out demons, heal different sicknesses, and so forth, (Mk 6:7-13).
And today, the disciples are back to Jesus and give Him report of all that they managed to do. They expressed Him their experience. They are now tired and Jesus realized that they need a rest. He ordered them to go and have special time aside for themselves. This shows that we should have some time to rest after being swimming into heavy and daily duties. This is also an opportunity for us to balance our needs as human person. We need to work hard, physically or intellectually. But we need also time to rest, time to return to God alone to praise and thank Him for all that we achieved as well us for our failing. This was the plan and program of Jesus for them. But the Gospel of today tells us that they could not even rest because people were following them where they plan to take some times to rest. Because of His compassion, He could not leave the crowed alone; He began to teach them and preach to them the Good News. This is compassion.
What is compassion and how do we express and live it?
The word compassion comes from two Latin words “con”, means “with” et “patire” means “to feel”. That gives the meaning to feel with someone else.
Therefore, Compassion literally means “to feel or to suffer together.” We can say that compassion cab be defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. With compassion, one feels and suffers with the one who suffered. It is just like a loving mother who feels and bears together what the child in her womb feels. The two become one and feel together and suffer the same thing. This was what Jesus showed to the people in the Gospel of today.
Jesus teaches us that we too, since we all are baptized and followers of Christ, we are one and should feel with one another. We have to open to the needs and the situation of others; just like the different members of the same body; what happens to one member affects the others. This is the Love and Compassion God has for us. It is also our duty and responsibility to love and have compassion to one another.
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