Compassion flourishes when we have nothing to protect and everything to share. It is the gravity of all living beings that binds together all that is weak and limited into a single ocean of love. We have the capacity to heal this earth of its divisions, its wars, its violence, and its hatreds. This capacity is the love within us to suffer with another and to love the other without reward. Love that transcends the ego is love that heals. When we lose ourselves for the sake of love, we shall find ourselves capable of real love. Compassion flows best from a heart open, free, and deeply in love with life. It rises above the individual and yearns for oneness of heart. Compassion knows no other language than the language of love. Let us learn this language and speak it aloud with our hands, our feet, and our eyes, for compassion can birth the new creation.
—from the book Compassion: Living in the Spirit of St. Francis
by Ilia Delio, OSF
2 thoughts on “Nothing to Protect”
Lord Jesus Christ, inflame our hearts with your love and burn away everything within it that may be unloving, unkind, ungrateful, unholy, and not in accord with your will. May we always love what you love and reject what is contrary to your love and will for our lives. Amen.
Lord Jesus, help me to love life the way you want me to. May I glorify your name through my service to other people. Amen.