The Heart of the Matter

by | Feb 10, 2022


“What the world needs now

is love, sweet love

It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of

What the world needs now

is love, sweet love

No, not just for some, but for everyone.”

~Brett James and Mary Holladay Lamar

Where is that “sweet love” today? How might I find it?

This popular tune was sung out to the world by Jackie De Shannon and Dionne Warwick. It seems as relevant today as it did 50-or-so years ago! Like a mantra, “what the world needs now…” serves to invite my frequent prayer held up to the Almighty for mercy… to a world in pain!  And, I am grateful for that.  It has led me to contemplate the role of compassion in my life and within the communities where I live and work.  And, I have become acutely aware of the lack of compassion within and around me.

I am grateful, also, to the chance-acquaintance a few years ago who introduced me to Joyce Rupp’s new book, Boundless Compassion: Creating a Way of Life. I completely agree with Joyce Rupp, that, “In today’s society it often seems as if cruelty is more extensive than kindness.”  She is “right on” when she describes our global situation as “broken, wounded, violent, damaged, divisive.”

Joyce Rupp claims, “Only with compassion at the core of humanity’s lived experience will we be able to approach one another with true respect and dwell in peacefulness.”

Using Joyce Rupp’s Boundless Compassion (2018) as resource for learning and reflection, we will come together from 7:00 -8:30pm for the six weeks of lent from March 9 through April 13, 2022, to consider our awareness and understanding of compassion. Each week we will listen, ponder and share how selected readings touched our hearts.

 Rupp teaches us how to practice compassion by sharing her own insights and those from dozens of wisdom figures, like Henry Nouwen, Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Pope Francis, Ilia Delia,O.S.F., Christina Feldman, Diane Millis, and Sharon Salzberg, to name but a few. 

Topics to be covered from Boundless Compassion include: “compassion as a way of life,” “welcoming ourselves,” “the river of suffering,” “from hostility to hospitality,” “a thousand unbreakable links,” and “becoming a compassionate presence.”

My favorite activity from Rupp’s several suggested exercises was to draw a “Tree of Compassion,” which started my personal reflections:

  • Roots: Your life experiences that provide a strong foundation for the practice of compassion.
    • Trunk: Personal qualities and characteristics that enable you to be a conduit of compassion.
    • Branches: Situations and circumstances that challenge you to reach out with compassion.
    • Leaves: Ways in which you have received compassion.
    • Fruit: Specific ways you have offered compassion to self and others.

Might this be an opportunity for Lenten reflection on your capacity for compassion? If so, you are welcome to join us.   

Info and Registration: https://loyolaspiritualitycenter.org/programs/compassion/   

Questions: susanna@loyolaspiritualitycenter.org.  or call: 651-641-0008 ext.16