van Ruysbroeck: compassion

Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Meditation:
“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
    and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”
    —Hosea 6:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Compassion is an inward movement of the heart, stirred by pity for the bodily and ghostly griefs of all men. This compassion makes a man suffer with Christ in His passion; for he who is compassionate marks the wherefore of His pains and the way of His resignation; of His love, His wounds, His tenderness; of His grief and His nobleness; of the disgrace, the misery, and the shame He endured; of the way in which He was despised; of His crown; of the nails; of His mercifulness; of His destruction and dying in patience. These manifold and unheard-of sorrows of Christ, our Saviour and our Bridegroom, move all kindly men to pity and compassion with Christ.
    ... Jan van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381), Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, I.xviii (see the book)
    See also Hos. 6:6; Isa. 40:11; 42:3; 53:4; 63:7-9; Matt. 8:2-3; 9:36; 14:14; Mark 6:34; 2 Cor. 8:9; Heb. 4:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart that loves mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah