Compassion - the quality closest to sanctity!
"An understanding heart to guide God's people", is what Solomon asks of the Lord... and that is what he was given! We see Jesus, who understood the tiredness of his apostles and counseled them to relax. We see Jesus looking at the people and understanding their need, their thirst, their yearning for life...he was filled with compassion! Compassion, which comes from com-pati (latin), to have the same feeling as someone, is basically an understanding of the other! When someone next to me is undergoing a crisis, when someone in my vicinity is going through a suffering, when persons in front of my eyes are experiencing a situation that stifles their lives... can I really feel with them, can I really suffer with them? That would be compassion! That is the sensibility that Jesus exhibits, that is the sensibility that Christ requires of us, if we have to call ourselves Christians! Compassion is the quality closest to sanctity! To be Christ-ians, we cannot but be compassionate; like Solomon, let us ask the Lord, and the Lord will grant us a heart that is wise and understanding, loving and compassionate.