Quotes about Compassion

To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving.

God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world.

Nothing can be more cruel than that leniency which abandons others to their sin.

The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God's love for us that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our brother and sister when we learn to listen to them.

The church is church only when it is there for others.

Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ's sake.

Where is love more glorified than where she dwells in the midst of her enemies?

Non è l'atto religioso che fa il cristiano, ma la sua partecipazione al dolore di Dio nella vita del mondo.

Whoever despises another human being will never be able to make anything of him. Nothing of what we despise in another is itself foreign to us.

We break bread with the hungry[78] and share our home with them[79] for the sake of Christ's love, which belongs to the hungry as much as it does to us. If the hungry do not come to faith, the guilt falls on those who denied them bread. To bring bread to the hungry is preparing the way for the coming of grace.

83]So often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to have to "offer" something when they are together with other people. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people seek a sympathetic ear and do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking even when they should be listening.

May we be enabled to say "No" to sin and "Yes" to the sinner.