One Compassionate Choice at a Time

Caring for the sick is an invitation to learn true compassion. It is not an easy road and one could hardly imagine the lives of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Bro. Richie Fernando S.J., Fr. Richard Ho-Lung and their companions. How did they develop such compassion? Why were they not exasperated?
It is easy to be filled with pity for someone suffering in sickness, or the poor people camped out in evacuation centers. To look at dirty, little ones begging for money. The face of anxiety, pain, and fears. However, to stay with these for a prolonged period is not easy. One is faced with situations not easily changed and may not change. One is faced with circumstances that is not entirely in one's hands. It is so easy to be filled with anguish and have pity and exasperation at the same time.
Love can be strained and really be put to the fire. I can only describe it as "I hate the Philippines I love", or "I hate the poor that I love" or "I hate the person I love".
It is difficult to separate the undesireable situation and the person(s) in it. It is difficult to believe that God is at work in the situation. And yet, within us, we want to care for people and we want to trust God who had created a beautiful world and had blessed us. It would have been easier to be indifferent.
Mother Teresa tries to see the Jesus she loves in all the people she encounters. She is all focused in filling up the thirst of Jesus on the cross. She loves Jesus as unconditional as humanly possible.
Compassion, the true love of others, is then manifestation of how much we love Jesus. To love Jesus even in "distressing disguise". Yes, Mother Teresa is not blind to the "distressing" situations but she is able to see beyond it - a disguise of something opposite of distressing.
Mother Teresa and the rest like her is able to muster compassion and persevere in it by the power of faith. They are sustained by the Sacraments and lived a sacramental life. Their lives were growing in virtues.
Through the Sacraments, these compassionate people lived in Him, through Him, and with Him. In turn, Jesus was able to work in them, through them, and with
them.
For struggling wanna be saints like me, authentic compassion is something to be striven for. An examimed choice/ response can manifest the indifference, exasperation, or compassion and from there make a willful choice to grow in compassion. One compassionate choice at a time.

Prayer of St. (Padre) Pio

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes, death, judgement, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.

Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but, the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for. Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.

With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity.

Amen

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Compassion is a tough road and love can be strained. The real battle is let love prevail...
It's possible only with Jesus, in Jesus, and through Jesus.