This month we celebrate the virtue of compassion.  As Jesus went from town to town teaching, he had a great deal of compassion for everyone he met, especially the poor, the sick and the suffering.  Compassion is not only the ability to understand and identify  with another person’s feelings, but compassion is also the ability to act on behalf of that other person.  It is evident when we care deeply and want to help others, even if we do not know them.  It is being kind and forgiving to someone who has hurt you. 

We practice COMPASSION when we:

*are helpful to a person or animal in need

*notice when someone is hurt or needs a friend

*imagine how another person might be feeling

*take time to show you care

*forgive others when they make mistakes

*reach out in the larger community to share our resources and skills.

Let us pray today for the understanding and the courage to be compassionate to those who need our help in our classrooms, in our school community, in our local community, and in the world.

“But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne.” 

Isaiah 53:4

“Love is patient and kind…Love is eternal… and the greatest of these is love.” 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13

“I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink…” 

Matthew 25:35-40

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 

Luke 19:10