Defining Compassion
The Third Day in Lent
Reflection By Scott Stoner
The meaning of compassion is “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The focus of this devotional is Practicing Compassion with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. Let’s begin by taking a look at what we mean by the word compassion. Compassion is formed from com, which means with, and passion, which means suffering. So one understanding of compassion is that it means to suffer with another. We will also explore other ways of understanding compassion throughout Lent.
The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition is similar: The feeling or emotion, when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another, and by the desire to relieve it. Both state that compassion combines a feeling of being moved by another’s suffering with the desire to relieve that suffering.
We are taking time to define compassion because when we think of compassion, there are other words that are similar but not the same. In tomorrow’s reflection we’ll explore the differences between sympathy, empathy, and compassion, but today we’ll consider the difference between kindness and compassion.
While closely related, compassion is a response to suffering, whereas kindness is not necessarily connected to suffering. Buying a birthday card for a friend is an act of kindness, but we wouldn’t think of it as an act of compassion. However, visiting a friend in the hospital is an act of compassion. It is also a kind thing to do, but because the friend is suffering it is an expression of compassion. In these examples we see that a critical component of compassion is a feeling combined with a desire to respond to some experience of hurt or suffering. This understanding applies both to compassion toward others and ourselves.
Making it Personal: What stands out to you in the two definitions of compassion? Is there anything you would add to either of these definitions? Do you see a difference between kindness and compassion? Can you think of examples of both in your own life?