“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12
I thought I would start with picking apart the scripture associated with today’s virtue focusing on the word…clothe.
To clothe is to cover with, bundle up in, coat, equip, suit-up. What do we clothe ourselves with?
…compassion
Compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. It’s…
tender feeling. grace. kindness. mercy. empathy. consideration. tenderness.
We are called to live this way. It is NOT always easy. There are many times I miss the boat on this one. Call it selfishness, lack of experience, ignorance, disconnectedness, busyness, judgmental — I don’t know, but what I do know is that I can improve in this area. I desire to show more compassion towards other.
I am reminded of the St. Francis prayer as chew on today’s virtue — a prayer, I feel, of compassion…
“Lord make me a channel of thy peace — that where there is hatred, I may bring love — that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness — that where there is discord, I may bring harmony — that where there is error, I may bring truth — that where there is doubt, I may bring faith — that where there is despair, I may bring hope — that where there are shadows, I may bring light — that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted — to understand, than to be understood — to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life…AMEN”
I pray, “Lord, please clothe my children with the virtue of compassion. And Father, as I get to know You better everyday, may compassion grow in me. Amen.”
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