who am I

St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) would spend whole nights praying “Who are you, my most dear God, and who am I . . . ?” It is through encountering the absolute safety of God that we discover our True Self, and in finding our truest self, we find a God who is always and forever larger than we expected.

                                                                        Richard Rohr  (Meditation, 1/24/2020)

May I be happy.

May I be at peace.

May I live with ease.

May I be free from suffering.

                                                                        Traditional Metta Phrases

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Ah compassion

that moment when we step ourselves

when we notice

those empty eyes

the tears that cannot quite

flow

the body bend

the hands clenched

when for a moment we step outside our own

pain

and see, and hear

the other

Ah empathy

when we move past noticing

past vague feelings of pity

and enter in

walking into the pain

the fear

the loneliness

when we feel not for the other

but with the other

when we stand with them

sit with them

when we grieve and weep with them

entering into the world

seeing as best we can through their eyes

feeling with their heart

people drawn together

we know there is too little compassion

and too little empathy

there is faux compassion and empathy

often called sympathy

where those in position of power

or relative comfort look down

condescending

on “lesser folk”

but this act of joining

ah that we could learn

for those limbic driven

friends, from that dog who lies

as her person’s feet when he

knows her person is hurting

or the cat who usually aloof

snuggles next to her suffering person

where does it come from?

This ability to have compassion, and ultimately

Empathy

It comes from our ability to have self compassion

A compassion that emerges for many of us

Only when we are able to access the reality of divine compassion

And divine empathy

We talk incarnation

God entering into our world

Our space

But we must realize that incarnation is what God does

Always

It is who God is

God with us

And this God

Whom we can find in the sunrise

And stars

and wind

we also find at our own center

in that deep place where angels and demons dwell

which is also where we find ourselves

and in that place we sit together

our self and the Sacred

and we learn that God understands (has empathy)

and we learn of God’s compassion

and in the safety of Sacred love

we learn to sit with our own pain and fear

and sitting with ourselves

we learn to have compassion on that self

and then…

we are safe in our hearts

safe enough to look past our own “stuff”

our own loss, and regret,

our own anger and fear

and see

and feel

and have a little empathy

and a little compassion

in a world that has far too little

then we can sit with others

and let our hearts ache

and the tears come

and generosity flow

because we have found and accepted ourselves

and we have found a God

“who is always and forever larger [and more loving] than we expected.”