Compassion

 

1. PRAYER
Dear God...

We pray for a compassionate heart. Help us to be more understanding and empathetic towards others. Let us see the world through the eyes of those who are suffering and be moved to action. May our compassion lead us to help and support those in need. 

Thank you for your compassion towards us. Help us to reflect that same compassion in our interactions with others. May we learn to listen deeply and to respond with kindness and care to those who are hurting. Guide us to be patient and non-judgmental, recognizing the struggles and challenges that others face. Help us to extend compassion to ourselves, understanding that we too are deserving of care and kindness. 

We pray for a world where compassion is the norm, where people look out for one another and support each other in times of need. Thank you for the opportunities to practice compassion. Help us to seize those moments and to make a positive difference in the lives of others. 

Amen.

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/uTN29kj7e-w?si=skvaihWPKZPKj5tY

3.  SONG

https://youtu.be/Bx9c4OEuR5E?si=f09YWeU5tHoGXE8f

4.  NARRATIVE

Contemplation: A Path to Compassion

Friday, March 28, 2025

Father Richard reminds us that regular contemplative practice is not an end in and of itself, but for the sake of solidarity with the suffering of the world:   

One of the main works of contemplation is detaching from the ego, from the self, from impure motivations of success or power, money or control. That will never stop, but it isn’t really that meaningful unless that detachment is accompanied by an attachment.  What do we find after all the months and years we’ve been practicing some form of contemplation or meditation? Do we have an increased attachment, sympathy, empathy, and compassion for what I call in The Tears of Things the suffering of the world? For the women of Gaza, the children of Ukraine, the starving people of Africa, the poorest of the poor, and all those marginalized in the United States and around the world? If the emptiness of “letting go” is not pretty soon filled up by “holding on” to some kind of deep solidarity with the suffering of the world, I don’t know that it’s Christian contemplation or even meaningful contemplation at all. It seems we’re simply back into private spirituality again.   

We’ve spent much of our history of contemplation seeking individually pure motivation. That’s a real temptation, but are we really going to spend the years ahead seeking only to be motivated to love Jesus on some private level? What does it even mean to love Jesus? What is the positive act of love? When we are in silent meditation or prayer, that’s what we’re praying is growing inside of us. As we let go of false motivations, and false, ego-based concerns, we’ve got to pray, hope, and desire for an increase in compassion, in caring, in solidarity with human suffering.   

I believe that’s what the cross means. The raised arms of Jesus are an act of solidarity and compassion with the human situation. So, as we sit in silence this morning and every morning, let’s pray that’s what we’re praying for: an increase in compassion by letting go of false purity codes and agendas, which we think make us holy or worthy of God’s love. It doesn’t matter if we have perfect motivation or a perfect practice. What is motivating us? Instead of perfection, let’s look for growth. Ultimately, we only see that growth over time as we grow in communion with those who suffer, grow in solidarity with human and beyond-human pain, and with the tears of things.  

Reference:  
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Morning Sit, December 9, 2024. Unpublished teaching.    

5.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/XXIRWAEVs8o?si=a7_gCaeJRYfvCK9w

6.  SHARING

• Why is it important to show compassion to people we dislike?
• How do you act with compassion toward someone who is being unkind to others?
• Is it easier to be nice to others than to yourself? Why?
• What is one kind thing I can say to myself when I need support?

7.  PRAYER AND INTENTIONS

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come before you with a heart full of gratitude and love, knowing that you are the God of compassion, comfort, and refuge.

Your word reminds me of your unwavering love and care for your children.

I am reassured that when I cry out to you, you hear me. Your promise to deliver me from all my troubles fills me with hope and trust.

Lord, in my moments of distress, when my spirit is crushed and my heart is broken, I feel your presence drawing near. Thank you for being close to the brokenhearted and for saving those who are crushed in spirit. Your love is my strength.

I praise you for being the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.

During my trials, you provide me with reassurance. You comfort me in all my troubles, and I am grateful for the peace and strength I find in you.

May I, in turn, be a source of comfort to others, sharing the comfort I have received from you with those who are in need.

You are my refuge and strength. You are ever-present, always ready to help me in times of trouble.

Lord, thank you for being my safe haven, my source of strength, and my constant support. In you, I find peace and security.

Heavenly Father, I entrust my life to you, knowing that you are my refuge, my comfort, and my deliverer.

May your love and grace guide me in all my days, and may I always seek to be a vessel of your comfort and compassion to those around me.

In Jesus’ name, I pray.

Amen.

Originally published at http://4foldlove.wordpress.com on October 24, 2023.

8.  SONG

https://youtu.be/QWqKgkx71uM?si=m2GfJE_cCak8BgAu

Holy Spirit

 

1.  Prayer

Holy Spirit Prayer of Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine (354-430) created this poetic prayer to

the Holy Spirit:

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,

That my thoughts may all be holy.

Act in me, O Holy Spirit,

That my work, too, may be holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,

That I love but what is holy.

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,

To defend all that is holy.

Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,

That I always may be holy.

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/cyMxWXlX9sU?si=8crNi5Fr0Dqh_swl

3. SONG

https://youtu.be/LgguVaGqHE8?si=MSnmuivxrqK3xXcn

4.  NARRATIVE

Welcome the Holy Spirit  

Monday, May 20, 2024

In an early book, Richard Rohr names the ability to love as the essential gift of the Holy Spirit: 

At the end of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells his followers, “Stay in Jerusalem until you are covered by the power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The disciples remained as they were told until the Spirit descends upon the gathered community on the feast of Pentecost. Suddenly, there is a new vitality in the Church, a new source of power and love. Just as Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit, now the followers of Jesus are empowered by the same Spirit. 

By living in the Spirit, Jesus’ disciples can do what God does. Or as Jesus puts it, “Be compassionate, just the way your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36). It is by the power of the Spirit that they follow Jesus’ alternative way:  

Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you; pray for those who treat you badly. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer your other cheek. If someone takes your coat, let them take your shirt as well. Treat others the way you want them to treat you (Luke 6:27–30).  

The gift of the Spirit is God’s own power to love unconditionally—and to transform the world by that power. 

This gift of knowing the Spirit, of being able to love as God does, is the same gift we need today. We see the world on the brink of destruction, yet we are too often apathetic about it. We hear of wars and famines, yet we choose to ignore them. We watch the earth degrade around us, and we simply adjust our thermostats. Too many of us just want to be left alone, not bothered by someone else—not even God—making demands on us. All of this is evidence of something missing in our lives, and reveals that we do not really know the Holy Spirit. 

The Spirit is always a gratuitous gift. It’s always an unmerited favor. It’s always pure grace. Like wind, it cannot be seen. Like smoke, it cannot be controlled. The Spirit is elusive, blowing where it wills. Yet like fire, the Spirit can be felt. The Spirit is experienced as the warmth of God’s love. And like blood, it is experienced as an inner vitality. The Spirit is supremely intimate, yet supremely transcendent. 

To enter into relationship with the risen Christ, we have to let go of ourselves, surrender control of our lives, and let the Spirit be given to us. We think that we might lose our individuality, yet surrendering to God actually increases it. For once in our lives, we’re truly free to become ourselves rather than what others want us to be. The highest form of self-possession is the capacity to give ourselves away. By giving ourselves completely to God, we come to be possessed by God and in full possession of ourselves at the same time.   

Reference:  
Adapted from Richard Rohr and Joseph Martos, The Great Themes of Scripture: New Testament (Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1988), 72, 76–77, 87, 93, 94. 

5.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/z8tdXfZlZQw?si=4mdY_53Vu2P8X_sd

6.  Sharing

How does the Holy Spirit work in your lives?

7.  PRAYER AND INTENTIONS

Holy Spirit, help me to believe your truth, even when the lies seem so convincing. When I am confronted with deception, help me to recognize it and defeat it with your Word. Reveal to me the areas in which I am being deceived in my own life. I commit to casting down imaginations and everything that would contradict what you say and think about me. Holy Spirit, thank you for helping me to think according to your truth. In the saving name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

8. SONG

https://youtu.be/nF2bHZ_WUKQ?si=ISA-4-U-2F3z8CUM

Honoring our anger and grief

1.  PRAYER

Joyce Meyer Ministries 

September 22, 2014 · 

Prayer for Grief and Loneliness: "Lord, I am crying out to You right now. I need You, my heart is broken and I am overcome with sadness. You have sent Your Holy Spirit to comfort me, so at this very moment I open myself up to Your presence, Your peace and Your love. Thank You, Lord for filling me with Your overwhelming comfort, holding me in Your arms and surrounding me with Your healing love. Father God, the Bible says that because I am Your child, that You suffer when I suffer. Your Word is true, and so are You. With You by my side, I am never alone, and I have strength to face each day ahead. Thank You for holding me in the hollow of Your hand and for wiping away my tears. You are always here for me, and You will never leave me. In Jesus' name, Amen."

2.  MEDITATION 

https://youtu.be/tMc9uxDYGJY?si=q0AQqTvcrbRtH252

3  SONG

https://youtu.be/Xxcn9jARM1Q?si=KZyGPR2EdvyMFmUJ

4.  NARRATIVE

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Father Richard considers the inherent connection between anger and grief that ultimately heals and liberates:  

After a lifetime of counseling and retreat work—not to mention my own spiritual direction—I have become convinced that most anger comes, first of all, from a place of deep sadness. Years ago, when I led male initiation rites at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, I would watch men’s jaws drop open and their faces turn pale when I said this. Life disappoints and hurts us all, and the majority of people, particularly men, don’t know how to react—except as children do, with anger and rage. It’s a defensive, reactionary, and totally understandable posture, but it often goes nowhere, and only creates cycles of bitterness and retaliation.  

Over time, the Hebrew prophets came to see this profound connection between sadness and anger. It was what converted them to a level of truth-telling. They first needed to get angry at injustices, oppression, and war. Anger can be deserved, and even virtuous, particularly when it motivates us to begin seeking necessary change. But only until sunset, Paul says (Ephesians 4:26). If we stay with our rage and resentment too long, we will righteously and unthinkingly pass on the hurt in ever new directions, and we injure our own souls in ways we don’t even recognize. 

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III shares how the prophets’ grief empowers them to seek justice:  

We must learn to grieve prophetically, seeing our world, even at its darkest, with the spirit and energy of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Those ancient teachers warned that the world was out of balance and that its repair requires our help. Grieving with them, we weep sometimes, yes, but without giving in to cynicism, hatred, and violence. We mourn as we work for change.… The challenge is to remember, even in our justified hurt and anger, that answering insult with insult and harm with harm just worsens the situation for everyone. We must remember the words of Dr. King: “Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.” When we grieve prophetically, we heal ourselves and the world by looking to shape the larger forces that damaged the soul of the person who caused hurt or anger, whether minor or devastating. [1]  

Richard Rohr considers Jesus a model of prophetic tears.  

In this way, the realization that all things have tears, and most things deserve tears, might even be defined as a form of salvation from ourselves and from our illusions. The prophets knew and taught and modeled that anger must first be recognized, allowed—even loved!—as an expression of the deep, normally inaccessible sadness that each of us carry. Even Jesus, our enlightened one, “sobbed” over the whole city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) and at the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35). In his final “sadness … and great distress” in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37), “his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44).  

References: 
[1] Otis Moss III, Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times (Simon and Schuster, 2023), 74, 76. 

Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage (Convergent, 2025), 4–

5. Meditation 

s://youtu.be/cDQ-krl38yE?si=kcRi89grS19HHQpF

6.  SHARING 

• How does your grief influence your anger, and vice versa? karlstein-publishing.com

• Are there moments when your anger is a reaction to your grief? karlstein-publishing.com

• What needs or unmet expectations are behind both your anger and your grief? karlstein-publishing.com

• How can you honor your grief while managing your anger in healthy ways? 

7 PRAYER AND INTENTIONS 

Dear Heavenly Father,

As I begin this new day, I come to you with a heavy heart. I confess that I have struggled with anger and frustration, and I know that it is not pleasing to you. Your Word says in Ephesians 4:26, “In your anger do not sin.”

Lord, I ask for your help in handling my anger in a way that honors you. Give me wisdom and strength to control my emotions and to speak words of love and kindness, even when I am feeling upset or frustrated. Help me to extend grace to those who may have hurt or offended me, just as you have extended grace to me.

Father, I also ask for forgiveness for any anger that I have held onto from the past. I release any bitterness or resentment that I may have toward others and ask for healing of any wounds that may be causing me to hold onto these negative emotions.

Lord, I know that I cannot handle my anger on my own. I need your guidance and your peace in my life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, so that I may have the self-control and patience to handle difficult situations with grace and love.

Thank you, God, for your love, mercy, and forgiveness. I trust in your promises, knowing that you will always be with me and that your peace will guide me through any storm.

In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

8.  SONG

https://youtu.be/gYR0xP1j4PY?si=vuhRskaGSky0htv5