Compassion Week (Oct 7th – 15th), brings together local faith communities to support and assist different charitable causes and nonprofits. Since it launched in 2012, over 21,000 volunteers have participated in Compassion Week, assisting over 85 non-profits. My problem isn’t with Compassion Week itself, but rather with the way we have come to understand the meaning of Christian compassion.

Wikipedia tells us that compassion is “a social feeling”, a type of “sensitivity” to the needs and wants of others. That is the type of compassion all too often on display at many of our charitable events and social service activities. Maybe we feel a little guilty about enjoying all the comforts and privileges heaped upon us, so we drop a few dollars in the collection basket or donate some of our old coats to Bridges. Perhaps we may even go so far as to volunteer a few hours of our time at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. This, we tell ourselves, is what Christian compassion looks like. This is what it means to love our neighbor. But is it really?

If you look at the etymology – the original Latin meaning of the word compassion – we find something quite different than just a sentiment or feeling. The Latin roots of the word compassion are ‘cum’ (with) and ‘passus’ (to suffer); taken together compassion means something like “to suffer together with”. This definition contrasts sharply with our contemporary understanding of compassion. I am reminded of Mother Teresa’s poignant remark that “if it doesn’t hurt, it isn’t love”.

Compassion and love for others should move us deeply, stirring us to empathy and to action. The compassion we see illustrated in the Scriptures is a driving and transformative force. In this past Tuesday’s Gospel, we heard how the Good Samaritan was “moved to compassion” at the sight of another in need, and what lengths he went in order to care for and tend him.

That is the meaning of Christian compassion. It is not a feeling, not a sentiment, not merely bringing a few cans of soup for the food drive. Christian compassion means to love and empathize with those in need, and it means to put that love into action. It means giving of our time, resources, or talents to the point that it hurts. When we reduce compassion to minimal and sporadic acts of charity, we risk missing the opportunity for true compassion to touch and transform us.

The quintessential embodiment of Christian compassion lies in the image of Christ on the cross. He didn’t come to take away our suffering, rather Christ came to suffer with us and for us. He loved us “unto death, even death on a cross”. Let us imitate His example, allowing true compassion to move us to give ourselves selflessly and wholeheartedly, as St Ignatius put it, ‘to give and not to count the cost’.