Mercy is the unifying and elevating power that makes compassion possible. Be especially respectful of the conscience and convictions of one another. In reaching out to our separated, divorced and remarried Catholics, we offer an assurance that you are loved. If your present difficulties sometimes seem insoluble, we pray that the care with which you are held in your respective parish communities, will be the seed of hope and joy in your own lives, and that you will find peace. The soothing touch of Jesus comes in the spirit of hospitality, which, ideally, enlivens every parish.
Compassion has little to do with pity, or simply feeling sorry for the other.
It is a freely offered and active sharing in whatever suffering the other is enduring. Such a sharing, which is always careful not to force itself on the privacy of the sufferer, brings hope and joy for it restores a sense of belonging to the person alone and afraid. Compassion becomes more tangible, and consequently more possible, when each of us acknowledges the need of God's patient, tender and merciful love in our own lives. Top This is a read-only service. All rights reserved.