Week V - Day 4 - The Cup of Sacrifice

I was "kind of" blessed by a song that fits so well with Joyce's book and The Cup of Compassion.  Yesterday, the Wednesday Lunch Bunch spent time talking about living from an attitude of abundance rather than the fear of scarcity.  I say "kind of" because the vocals and the images on these videos are really not part of my eclectic taste in music.  Still, the words of the song are an appropriate blessing to begin a day of compassion.

Sharon Salzberg

Sharon Salzberg, author and teacher of meditation practices says, "Compassion...is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world. Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal.

Joyce then continues by beginning today's lesson by saying, "Compassion has a price. It does not come without a cost, the least of which is the pain that pierces our own hearts as we accompany one who is suffering.

"When we speak out and take a stand against injustice, our compassion can cost us ridicule, rejection, loss of friends, and even the termination of our job. When we are willing to be present with one who is in great physical or emotional pain, our compassion can cost us our precious time and energy. Sometimes when we suffer with others, such as the homeless, the dying, those with AIDS, the imprisoned, we can be confronted with our own fears, insecurities, powerlessness, arrogance, or prejudices." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 121)

Again, I am humbled and amazed that Joyce seems to have been watching me live through so many situations.  Again, I am surprised by how the things I am writing or thinking...I then read within her book a few days later.  The devotion I prepared for the Team/Session meeting last evening asked us to stay with Mary's confusion at the tomb...before she saw the "gardener."  She tells the angel, "I don't know where they have taken him!"

I asked the leaders to stay with that question before moving on to the story they know so well.  "I don't know where they have taken him!"

Is this story a myth, truth, a fable...is it a tale that has been told well?

It took several minutes for a response, and I had just about given up when one woman spoke up...and then another...

I shared that while sitting with my uncle, one night when he was between his logical mind and the dementia of Sundowners, he asked, "San, what if it has been a lie? What if this is all there is?"

I was stunned, not sure how to respond.  Yet, we talked about faith and doubts for the next 15 minutes...before the confusion of the evening took away his mind.

Compassion does put us in places where our fears and our doubts...our sense of powerlessness and our prejudices can all rise up in our hearts.

"Compassion urges us to move out of our comfortable niches of security. Compassion stretches us and asks us to let go of apathy and indifference. Compassion refuses to accept excuses of busyness, ignorance, or helplessness. Compassion invites us to reach out to those who suffer, 'to live,' as Sharon Salzberge notes, 'with sympathy for all living beings without exception.' (Ibid)

Do you remember the movie Patch Adams?  Here...I've Got Faith of The Heart...

Oh my, listening to this song, and watching the Robin Williams character, Patch Adams brings back memories...times I paid for my compassion, it also fills my heart with hope.

Joyce brings her thoughts today to a close by sharing that it can take many long years of living compassionately, before we stop counting the cost and respond with fewer regrets or self-concerns.

"This is not to say that we omit taking care of ourselves or deny our own feelings.  Far from it. It is the person who knows how to care well for self who will offer the purest and most generous compassion to another. We are, after all, to love others as we love ourselves. (Lk 10:27)" (Ibid)

How appropriate, on this day before Good Friday, that I read:

Depiction of Mary at the foot of the cross.

"When I think of the great sacrifice that compassion asks, I see Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing at the foot of the cross. She stood there bravely with the greatest sorrow a mother could have. Compassion cost Mary's son his life. Compassion cost Mary an agonizing grief that only a parent can fully realize. Both Mary and Jesus knew and paid the price of compassion." (Ibid)

Breathprayer:
Breathing in: I stand...
Breathing out: ...beneath the cross 



Reflection:

Stand with the cup in your hands.
Visualize yourself with God's compassion filling your soul with love.
Then picture someone (or a group) who huts.
Imagine what the pain must be like.
Let your loving care and concern go to them.
Stand at the foot of their cross.
Send hope and courage to them.




Scripture: John 19:25-27
²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.


Journaling:
When I picture Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing at the foot of his cross, I ...
Here are some ways in which compassion costs me:
Dear Mary,...


....have to walk away from this for a moment in order to settle my heart.

At the foot of the cross....

Interesting, I have wondered several times during this Lenten season what I would have done on that fateful day in Jerusalem.  Early in the season a Facebook friend/cousin wrote, "Oh, to have been one of those standing at the foot of Jesus' cross!" I replied, that most of the disciples ran...  And, I have wondered if I would have run....


Today, Joyce asks me to place myself at the foot of Jesus' cross.  Did you know that the images of him being "high" up is probably not true?  Many historians claim that the Roman cross was not that high....I would be close to eye level with Jesus... When I picture Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing at the foot of his cross, I ... my heart feels so full, that it is difficult to breath.  I cannot imagine such cruelty. I am at a loss for words...


Here are some ways in which compassion costs me:  In the past, I have lost "friends", I have been hurt emotionally and a couple of times I have been hurt physically.  In the past and now today, compassion costs me a peaceful heart.  It is difficult to watch and hold suffering without my own doubts and fears surfacing.

Compassion has taken time, sometimes time that I don't feel I have...in those times I have often worked/served from an attitude of scarcity and anxiety over other's thoughts and expectations.

Tonight, at our Maundy Thursday service, we will gather around a large table set up in the front of the sanctuary.  We will read scripture passages and will offer symbols of Jesus' last few hours before the nails were driven into his hands and feet.  We will reflectively sing verses of "Were You There?" And I want to scream up to God, "Wasn't there any other way??"

Dear Mary,...  I cannot imagine the strength and the love it took for you to stand at Jesus' cross. I am so saddened on this day to know that all of that happened because of man kind .... because of me.

Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded is a prayer I can carry with me this day.  Lord, open my heart so that compassion might flow freely, from a place of a whole and healthy heart.  May my motives be as pure as possible, may I strive to offer compassion in a way that glorifies you.  Something that seems so "natural", I recognize requires more of me than simply doing the act of compassion.  Teach me...

Prayer:
Mary, woman of sorrows, your son's life was filled with compassion. Your life, too, teaches me to suffer with others even when it costs me to do so. May I be there at the foot of the cross of the suffering ones of this world in the loving way that you were at the foot of the cross of Jesus. may I learn from your love how to be a loving person.


Today:
I will offer thanks for someone who paid a price for offering compassion to me. I will place myself beneath the cross of another who needs my compassion.


A lot of thoughts and images to hold as this Holy Week draws ever closer to the cross.  I am "behind" in the readings and will finish after Lent, yet, what a gift to hold these lessons at this time.  My heart feels full as I begin this Holy Thursday.  May I carry the image of my cup running over as I approach the Table this evening for communion...  Thank you, Lord.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Week V - Day 2 - Offering the Cup

To begin this new Monday morning a wonderful rendition of a familiar song and amazing photos...

Etty Hillisum wrote: "...there now flows a constant stream of tenderness, a stream in which all petty desires seem to have been extinguished. All that matters now is to be kind to each other with all the goodness that is in us.

Etty Hillisum 1914-1943

Last evening, I watched The Fall of The Third Reich on the History Channel.  I watched footage shot by and heard letters written by German soldiers to their wives and families. It did not change the horror of what happen, but it did put other faces into a time of history I had not known before.  Etty Hillisum was a Jew living in the Netherlands during Hitler's reign of power. Knowing this about Etty as I again read this quote offers another layer of appreciation of the power of her insight.

Joyce uses Etty's quote to consider the image of the Body of Christ and her belief that even though she does not hear a lot about The Body, it is still vital and helpful when it comes to living compassionately.

The Body of Christ Cross

"This Christian spirituality envisions each of us as a part of the whole, with the Spirit of Jesus uniting us...'If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoiced together with it' (1 Cor 12:26)...Each and every part of the whole has significance and worth." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 115)

Joyce shares that she finds great strength in knowing that she is connected to everyone and everything in her world because of the vibrancy of the Divine Presence dwelling in each of us and because of the atoms that twirl and whirl in every piece of creation.

"All of life is a part of me and I am a part of all of life. All people are my sisters and brothers. In each one I recognize the face of the Divine Presence looking back at me. The God of Compassion has shown me a loving face; now I am to be that reflection in return. I am to be the presence of God to another. When I offer the cup of compassion to someone, it is God in me reaching to God in the other. There is a oneness of Love bonding us to all of life." (Rupp, p 116)

Joyce continues writing, reminding the reader that it is not only Christians who are encouraged to be a light for others and a source of love.  Compassion is a core element of other religious traditions as well.

Make yourselves a light. ~ Buddha

"In his last words to his disciples, the Buddha said: 'Make of yourselves a light.' How similar are the words of Jesus when he asked his followers to not hide their light under a basket but to place it where all could see. Like Jesus, the Buddha also encouraged his followers to be persons of great love." (Ibid) 

John Cardinal Newman 1901-1990

As she nears her time of meditation, Joyce writes that praying for and with others is one way of being a light or a sign of God's great compassion.  Joyce also names the groups that she will be meeting with in the days or weeks to come.  She then prays the adapted prayer of John Cardinal Newman that she has included within today's devotion.

I see that word "adapted" and I immediately want to know how the entire prayer reads. While looking, I learned this prayer was recited daily by Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Charity in Calcutta, India.

Dear Jesus,
help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly
that my life may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with
may feel your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be mine.
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise you in the way which you love best,
by shining on those around me.
Let me preach you without preaching, not by words but by example,
by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do,
the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for you.  Amen. 


Breathprayer:
Breathing in: We are many...
Breathing out: ...we are one

In Christ There is No East or West

Reflection:
Hold your cup out in front of you.
Stand and face the East.
Unite with all beings of the East.
Let your heart extend compassion to them.
Turn and face the South.
Hold your cup out to all who dwell in the South.
Unite with these beings.
Let your heart extend compassion to them.
(Continue in the like manner with the West and the North)


Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
 ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.


Journaling:
I am a fountain of God's love when...
I hesitate, or refuse, to offer the cup of compassion to... because...
Dialogue with an individual or a group toward whom you feel biased or prejudiced.


I have been using Adam Hamilton's book "24 Hours That Changed the World" during Parlor Conversations on Sunday mornings during Lent.  We have talked several times about "crowd" mentality and how "good" people end up doing something they would have never thought capable. I watched this played out again in the documentary on the Third Reich last evening.  Good people...hesitating or refusing to offer the cup of compassion because...

As I sit with these images, "peace" keeps coming to mind.  If all Christians, Buddhist, Muslims, Jews.... if all religions offered the Cup of Compassion...if they would be a Light...then the world would know peace.  But...we don't and the world does not know peace.

As we peel away layers there are tears...
tears of laughter, tears of pain, tears of joy, tears of release...

At first I thought this Cup was misplaced in Joyce's book.  It seems far easier to work through than previous weeks, yet this morning I am thinking back to those previous weeks....The Cup of Life, The Open Cup, The Chipped Cup, The Broken Cup and with each week....I had to peel away another layer of "protection" in order to get to my true self.  I have often said that life is a lot like an onion, and our true self, our core, may only be revealed after all of the outer layers have been peeled away. 

When I peel away the layers of my conditioned beliefs, of my ideas and influences, and all the protective coverings that I imagine make me feel safe, I get to the heart of my "issues" and discover my own personal truths, my own deep knowing...  and awakening to the nature of reality.  And, once I get past all those layers, I find that within my center I am perfect...a beloved Child of God, just as I am.  This is what I and others have been doing as we have read through the exercises and stories for the past four weeks! Each lesson has been a peeling away...


...so that now, I can read what would initially seems so "easy" with new eyes and a new appreciation of what lies in my deepest heart.


God, I am a fountain of your love when I forget myself and see only the other person or situation.  I've actually have done this!  I don't try to get complicated or second guess myself...I'm simply present with the need.


Yet, I hesitate, or refuse, to offer the cup of compassion to ... when I stick a label/judgement on the person or the situation.  "She's never going to change." or "We have offered help before..." or "I heard she really bad mouthed the congregation, why would I want to reach out..." and "They have more technology in that trailer than I have at home! Why don't they use some of that money to pay their heating bill!" lastly "They are Muslim! I don't understand their religion and 'they' blew us up!"


Unconsciously and very easily....I create a Me/Them mentality rather than seeing everyone as a brother/sister...just doing their best to live within this life.  A wonderful lesson for me to hold comes from the book Gifts From A Course in Miracles.  It is entitled, Recognizing Your Brother.  Excerpts from this lesson...


When you meet anyone,
remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him you will see yourself.
As you treat him you will treat yourself.
As you think of him you will think of yourself.
Never forget this,
for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself.


Everyone lives in you,
as you live in everyone...

For God so loved the WORLD...
not just Christians, not just Jews,
not just white, or black,
not just protestants, not just straight...
God so loved the WORLD...
what does that mean for me?

...Recognize all whom you see as brothers,
because only equals are at peace....


...When you have seen your brothers as yourself
you will be released...


...In truth you and your brother stand together,
with nothing in between.


Christ stand before you both,
each time you look upon your brother.


Dream of your brother's kindnesses
instead of dwelling in your dreams on his mistakes.
Select his thoughtfulness to dream about
instead of counting up the hurts he gave.
Forgive him his illusions, and give thanks to him
for all the helpfulness he gave.
And do not brush aside his many gifts
because he is not perfect in your dreams...


...It is not up to you to change your brother,
but merely to accept him as he is.


You will never know that you are co-creator with God
until you learn that your brother
is co-creator with you.


Peace to my brother, who is one with me.
Let all the world be blessed with peace through us.

God, I need your help to uncover, to open my prejudices that I hold deep in my heart...and then I need your help to let go. I don't think of myself as a prejudiced person! In fact...I am prejudiced against prejudiced people!!!  Oh my God...I have so much yet to unlearn, yet, I know you will be faithful...and forever patient. AMEN.


Prayer: (adapted from the prayer of John Cardinal Newman)
Dear God, help me to spread your love everywhere I go. Penetrate and possess my whole begin so fully that all my life will reflect your compassion. Shine through me and be so in me that every person I meet will feel your presence in my spirit. AMEN.

“I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch
with everything there is to know of God.
Then you will have minds confident and at rest,
focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest
treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded
in that mystery and nowhere else.
And we’ve been shown the mystery!” (Col 2:2-3 MSG)

Today: I will intentionally offer compassion to someone I know who is in need of my understanding, kindness, and care.


I think I will tweak Joyce's "Today" by saying, "Today, I will offer compassion to someone I have judged as not needing my understanding, kindness, and care.  I even have someone in mind!

Many Blessings ~ Sandi


P.S. I am still doing The Evening Review, but I will most likely not be including it within this online journal.

Week V - Day 1 - Learning Compassion

Jesus wept over Jerusalem.

The Cup of Compassion...recognizing my interconnectedness with all of the world.You Are the Face of God


As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes." ~ Luke 19:41-42

What can we do? We can become a sign. Whatever happens, becomes a sign of joy and a fountain of divine love. ~ Bede Griffiths, OSB


Joyce shares that she learned a lot about compassion from a college professor who took a personal interest, not only in Joyce, but all of her students.  

"She would take time to stop a student in class or on campus, ask how he or she was, and then, really listen to the response.  I remember nothing of what she taught me in that class, but I remember everything of how she was with me and with the other students." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 113)

C. Houselander 1901-1954

Joyce continues saying that she has been inspired by compassionate people in history such as Dorothy Day, Mahatma Ghandi, Etty Hillisum, Tom Dooley, Mother Teresa, and Albert Schwietzer.  English spiritual writer, Caryll Houselander was another teacher.  It seems that psychologist would bring their mentally and emotionally ill  patients, they could not treat, to Caryll.  Because of Caryll's acceptance and love, these patients experienced dramatic healing.

Reflecting on all those who have taught her about compassion, Joyce notes that she does see some common characteristics.

"They often have a significant suffering or painful life evnts of their own, a generous heart, a non-blaming and non-judging mind, a passionate spirit, a willingness to sacrifice their life, a keen empathy, and a love that embraces the oneness of all creation."(Rupp, p 114)

Thinking....who....???

THEN, Joyce invites me to to think about my teachers of compassion.  She asks me to name those who have taught me how to offer the cup of compassion.

What a question.  In some ways I think compassion has been hard-wired into me.  It is something that I naturally do. Like I journaled a few days ago, I am a strong INFJ.  Compassion and empathy seem to be a part of being an INFJ. (Two different resources that say very similar things.  Reading these again have been a helpful reminder that many of the things I "assume" others "should" do as Christians....is part of being an INFJ! Note to self, read through these again when you notice stress building in your heart!)


Some believe we are "hard-wired" with one of the 16 Personality Types while others believe the traits that make up any of these 16 types are learned.  I don't know... But if I did learn...

Don Quixote on of my all
time favorite tales!!

I would say my mother, who from the stories I've heard, probably learned compassion from her mother.  I was involved in a car accident at the age of 5 and spent a lot of time in the hospital during the next six years.  I grew up wanting to be a nurse, undoubtedly some of the nurses I came in contact with during those years taught me compassion. The caring and love of a supportive church family during those years of surgery most likely taught me about compassion.  Then...all those books I read as a young girl about "heroic/giving/compassionate" nurses also taught me the necessity to see my interconnectedness with others.  Lastly, as I sit here pondering this question...I cannot remember not having a fascination with Jesus and the many stories of his caring, healing, touching, reaching out, parables.....

Jesus/Jesus/Jesus...I assumed
every child is consumed with
"knowing" Jesus, but maybe not?

So, was I  hard-wired as an INFJ or if I was overly blessed by influential teachers who taught me about compassion? I would guess this is a both/and.  Still, it has been interesting to consider Joyce's question of "WHO" taught me about compassion.

Breathprayer:
Breathing in: Divine Compassion...
Breathing out: ...teach me


Reflection:
Remember compassionate people you have known (personally or from history, scripture, literature, etc)
Review their lives. Notice how they lived.
How did they respond compassionately?
Write down their names on a piece of paper.
Place this paper under your cup as a symbol of how their example is a base for your compassion.
Let it be a way of honoring these compassionate beings.


Scripture: Matthew 10:40-42
⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Journaling:
My experience of compassion...
The key thing that I have learned from compassionate people is...
God of compassion...


Honestly, some of my experiences of compassion have not been great.  However, it was not because of the giving but rather MY NOT KNOWING HOW TO GIVE in a healthy way. I would become consumed...I would take on another's burdens, rather than walking a long side them while THEY dealt with their own burden.

My empty shoes b/c I tried to
walk in someone else's shoes.

Jesus reached out to others, yet he did not lose his sense of who "he" was.  He didn't become "them"...he stayed Jesus and let them continue dealing with their life.  And....praise God....I am learning how to offer compassion without trying to walk in the other's shoes....leaving my own shoes (cup) empty.

I only learned part of the lesson from teachers, OR I did learn some of this behavior from others.  Again, I suspect this is a both/and.

God of compassion, scripture is full of words and lessons of your compassion!

"Therefore I said, "Turn away from me;  let me weep bitterly.  Do not try to console me  over the destruction of my people.""  Isaiah 22:4

"Oh, that my head were a spring of water  and my eyes a fountain of tears!  I would weep day and night  for the slain of my people."  Jeremiah 9:1

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." 1 Peter 3:8

Another favorite story...
The Prodigal Father

"And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." Luke 15:20 

"You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate." Luke 6:36

Yes, scripture is full of these lessons, teach me how to offer compassion from a place of a cup that is always being emptied and refilled  Teach me, Lord, how to be compassionate from a place of health and wholeness!  I know, that "I" am a special child and that you never intend for me to lose myself.  After all, like I journaled before....if I am in someone else's house...my own is empty!

I do want to thank you, God, for all those who have offered compassion to me and for the lessons they gave. I would not be the person I am today, without those special teachers.

Prayer:
God of hurting ones, thank you for the loving people you have brought into my life, who gave me comfort and strength in times of pain. Thank you for teachers of compassion and for what I have learned from them. I long to be a more compassionate person so that my life will truly reflect you. Revive and renew the gift of compassion in my life.


Today:
I will live as a compassionate person.


I would add that for today, I will strive to live as a healthy and whole compassionate person!

Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Week V - The Cup of Compassion

As I begin Week V: The Cup of Compassion.

Compassion?

My prayer would be that I would see the world as God sees this world.  Who better than beginning this morning and this chapter than Michael W. Smith?  Michael has a gift for leading praise and worship.  God uses this man mightily in stirring the hearts of Christ's Church.

The cup at the beginning of this chapter is a cup being emptied out.  Looking for an image, different than the one I have used during Week II, The Open Cup, I was struck by this work of a woman emptying, what appears to be an earthen jar of some kind, into a large body of water.

I, all of us, are part of this earth.  We, like an earthen pot, are formed from clay. As I begin with Compassion, I want to begin with the thought I am simply returning what is not mine, but the Creator's within me. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

"I hold my heart as a gourd filled with love, ready to pour upon humanity." ~ Jessica Powers

Joyce tells of a time she befriended a woman sitting with her terminally ill husband, Agnes.  Agnes shared with Joyce how another woman, Marian, who had recently lost her own husband in the same facility, had reached out to help her.

"...I saw how one woman, in the midst of her own loss, reached out in compassion to another who was in pain. Marian couldn't 'do' much for Agnes by changing her situation but she helped greatly with her caring presence." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 109)

Mary Jo Meadows defines compassion as "the quivering of the heart in response to another's suffering" and notes that "compassionate beings...cannot bear to see suffering and remain unengaged."  Jack Kornfield writes about the truly loving person who breaths in the pain of the world and breaths out compassion.

"That is how deep compassion is, and how closely connected to others." (Rupp, p 110)

Joyce tells us that each life influences and affects the other in the same way.  She continues by writing,

"The more we see our world as a vast interconnectedness of all beings, the more drawn we will be to compassion because we will see how much one life is related to and affected by another. This  spiritual oneness is at the heart of Christianity." (Ibid)

I am the Vine, you are the branches.

As a Christian and as a person living in the 21st Century, this notion interconnectedness is not new thinking. Those of us raised in the church are familiar with the vine and the branches image from John 15:1. Living in today's world, we are daily reminded how each of us affects and is affected by another part of the world.

"We are the body of Christ. The life pulsing through us is the life of God giving us spiritual vitality." (Ibid)

Joyce thinks that no quality more identifies a Christian than that of compassion.  She also knows that compassion can be very demanding. She also identifies there are many ways of showing compassion.

The Good Samaritan

"Sometimes compassion asks us to simply 'be' with someone, to wait patiently, to experience their powerlessness with them. At other times, compassion asks us to 'do' something, to give of our time and resources, to speak out for justice, to 'go the extra mile' for and with them as did the Samaritan in the gospel parable ( Luke 10:25-37). And sometimes, compassion asks us to receive graciously from another who has need of our receptivity and our vulnerability." (Ibid)

Being the INFJ that I am, there is a part of me that is jumping up and exclaiming loudly, "AMEN, Joyce! Preach it!"

There is another part of me that begins to feel overwhelmed, because I have simply lost myself in others and/or situations.  Joyce must know about people like me, because she goes on to say,

"Caring persons need to constantly check their motivation for offering compassion to be sure they are not doing it out of their own egocentric needs. They must also be sure to take good care of themselves. As Mary Jo Meadows points out 'You must get near enough to the suffering to feel it, but not so close as to get lost in it or overwhelmed by it.' This can be a very delicate balance." (Ibid)

The underlined emphasis...is mine.  Oh, do I recognize my need within those lines.

Joyce closes her introduction using the wisdom of one of my favorite teachers, Marcus Borg who notes that compassion is the central quality of God in both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures. Borg emphasized that God is compassion ate - God feels our pain, our loss, and our suffering.

Praying with our cup...

Joyce asks, "As we pray with our cups this week, we can draw both inspiration and comfort from God who is our example, par excellence, of how to hold the hurting ones of our world in our hearts and offer them the cup of compassion." (Rupp, p 111)

Again, Joyce's poem to begin this chapter, touches my heart, sparks my imagination, and offers me hope.

my cup of compassion holds tears of the world; it overflows with sorrow, struggles, and sadness,
my cup of compassion holds the cries of children, unfed, unloved, unsheltered, uneducated, unwanted,
my cup of compassion holds the screams of war, the tortured, slain, imprisoned, the raped, the disabled,
my cup of compassion holds the bruised and battered, victims of incest and abuse, gang wars, violent crimes,
my cup of compassion holds the voice of silent ones, the mentally ill, illegal immigrants, the unborn, the homeless, 
my cup of compassion holds the emptiness of the poor, the searing pain of racism, the impotency of injustice, 
my cup of compassion holds the heartache of loss, the sigh of the dying, the sting of the divorced,
my cup of compassion holds the agony of the earth, species terminated, air polluted, land destroyed, rivers with refuse,
my cup of compassion I hold it to my heart where the Divine dwells, where love is stronger than death and disaster.  ~ Joyce Rupp (Rupp, p 112)


God, Father and Creator of us all and all that we see...I am looking forward to learning more about this Cup of Compassion and how to offer compassion in a way that honors and glorifies you.  Today, help me to see this world and all I meet, through your eyes.  Help me to listen to the eyes of my heart...my heart where you reside.  AMEN.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi