Compassion and Henry J. M. Nouwen

Henry J. M. Nouwen, who wrote The Wounded Healer, has something to say if one wants to hear. This book, written with Douglas Morrison and Donald McNeill, is a document on what it means to be a Christian when things are rough in one's life. And that is when compassion has to kick in big time. I never thought that the words--compassion and forgiveness--should be interchangeable but I think so now. I wonder whether anyone is capable of truly forgiving someone who has caused them massive pain unless they have a large dose of compassion within their own soul.

Nouwen and his fellow authors say that community involves living and working together and the major community is the family. Nouwen writes: "The call to community as we hear it from the Lord is the call to move away from the ordinary and proper places." Does this include moving away from the ordinary and improper ways of behavior? Had he included a niece who had massive problems with anger management and one who had massive problems with being a control-freak? Our family had enough problems with first generation hang-ups but the second-generational problems are racking up more problems than anyone can deal with. Is there a chance that community can ever return to this family?

He adds: "Therefore the movement toward compassion always starts by gaining distance from the world that wants to make us objects of interest."

So the list multiplies and increases: Forgiveness, Community, Compassion.