v. Kindness, Kindness, Mercy, Mercy
Exo 2:6 having c of him, he said: Of the children of
Deu 13:17 May the Lord c of you, and multiply you
2Sa 12:22 who knows if God will have c of me
Job 19:21 friends, have c of me, have c of me!
Hos 13:14 O Sheol; the c will be hidden from my sight
Jon 1:6 your God; maybe he will have c of us
Mat 9:36 and when he saw the crowds, he had c of them
Mat 14:14 had c of them, and healed .. sick
Matt 15:32; Mar 8:2 I have c of the people, because already
Mar 6:34 Jesus went out and .. had c of them, because
Sympathize.
Feeling of tenderness and consideration for others, which ranges from clemency in judgment (Deu 7:16) through kindness (Job 6:14; Pro 19:17; Pro 28:8) and mercy (Mat 18: 33) to godliness (Lam 4:10 ). It can refer to concern for an object (Jon 4:10) or for something highly desired (Eze 24:21). It may be God’s sorrow for the holy name of him profaned from him (Eze 36:21). Compassion for one’s own children is the essence of fatherhood, whether human or divine (Psa 103:13), inherent in God’s redemptive activity (Psa 72:13).
In the NT the word splanenizomai is used to express compassion (Luk 10:33). There are three gr words. which are used once each: eleeo, have mercy (Mt 18:33); eusplancnos, merciful (1Pe 3:8); polusplancnos, merciful (Jam 5:11), referring to God.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(To suffer with another).
– From the Father: Mat 18:27, Luc 15:20.
– Of Christ: Mat 9:36, Mat 14:14, Mat 15:32, Mat 20:34, Mar 1:41, Mar 9:22, Luc 7:13, : – Of Man: Luc 6:36, Luc 10:33.
Christian Bible Dictionary
Dr. J. Dominguez
http://bible.com/dictionary/
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
With this word terms are translated that in different places of the Scriptures want to express having or feeling pity. It points to a deep feeling of commiseration that is born of a love that feels sorry for the other. Pharaoh’s daughter had c. of the child she found in the river (Exo 2: 6). Job asked his friends to have c. of him (Job 19:21). God tells Israel: “My heart is moved within me, my whole c. is set on fire† (Hos 11:8) and inclines to forgiveness. In the same way, the Lord Jesus † œseeing the crowds, he had c. of them† (Matt 9:36). “The Lord is very merciful and compassionate” (Jas 5:11). So should believers be (1Pe 3:8).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
Human virtue that leads to feel sorry for the sufferings or difficulties of others and in general for all the situations of others to which one reacts with affection, tolerance, sympathy and desire to help and share.
It is an eminently Christian virtue repeatedly reflected in biblical texts, especially evangelical ones. The term “compassion”, in Greek “oixteiro”, appears 12 times in the New Testament. “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.” (Luke 6.36). “Wasn’t it fair that you had compassion on your brother like I had on you?” (Mt. 18.33)
And the parallels of “pity” (19 times), “penalty” (6) and, above all, “mercy” (eleos in Greek, 78 times), complete an abundant panorama of references to a profound attitude of the followers of Jesus , in which it is essential to initiate believers with experiences of fraternity rather than with recommendations of benevolence.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
(v. Good Shepherd, charity, pastoral charity, works of mercy)
(ESQUERDA BIFET, Juan, Dictionary of Evangelization, BAC, Madrid, 1998)
Source: Dictionary of Evangelization
(-> mercy, love). It is the ability to take on the suffering* of others as one’s own. It is related to the weakness of man. It has great importance in the history of religions. At the beginning of Buddhism is universal compassion, understood in the form of perhaps more passive solidarity. Biblical religion has highlighted the demand for a more active compassion, which is expressed in helping those in need.
(1) Old Testament. The basic sign of compassion is the exodus: God “sees and knows” the suffering of the Hebrews, pities the oppressed Jews in Egypt and “comes down” to liberate them through Moses (cf. Ex 2:23-25; 3.7). The basic formula of God’s compassion is found in Ex 34: “Yahweh, Yahweh, compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in mercy and truth; that he keeps mercy to thousands, that he pardons iniquity, rebellion, and sin.” Yahweh has been for Israel a compassionate God who forgives his people, although he corrects and punishes his sins until the third and fourth generation, that is, for about seventy years, as were symbolically the years of exile. Starting from the same experience of the Exodus, the book of Wisdom has systematically taken up this motif, to the point of elaborating a kind of treatise on the active compassion of God, whose power has no limit and who, precisely because he can do everything (create and annihilate, destroy and forgive), he wants to forgive and forgives everything: “You take pity on everything (eleys of guidelines) because you can do everything (= panta dynasai)”. Within the world order absolute compassion is impossible, because things are made of limited polarities. Therefore, both compassion and love or tenderness are always finite. But God breaks that level of polarities. He is not limited by anything and thus he can do everything, but he does not do everything, but only what is in line with forgiveness and compassion: he does not need anyone and, nevertheless, feels sorry for everyone; it is infinite and yet it is close to those in need. In this way he appears not only as a creator, but as a re-creator of men, who are part of his mystery of love: “You forgive everyone because they are all yours, Lord, friend of men” (Wis 11,26) . The consistent unfolding of this vision of God constitutes the task of biblical interpretation.
(2) Jesus, the New Testament. The Gospels present Jesus as a “compassionate Messiah”: “Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and illness. And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them; because they were harassed and helpless like sheep that have no shepherd” (Mt 9,35-36; cf. Mt 14,14; 15,32). The word used in the text (esplagklinisté) alludes to an inner movement, which springs from the very entrails or, better said, from the entrails of a man or woman. This compassion is like a movement of the maternal womb, which feels the sufferings of others as its own. Jesus does not stop at the suffering of others, passively or contemplatively. He does not meditate on the ills of the world, but, in an intense and committed way, initiates a movement of healing and solidarity. The New Testament as a whole accepts and develops the Israelite experience of God’s compassion, understood in the form of consolation, and, above all, the gesture of Jesus, the compassionate Messiah, as Paul emphasized: “Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, who comforts us in all our tribulations. In this way, with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God, we also can console those who are in any tribulation” (cf. 2 Cor 1,2-4).
(3) Compassio Patris. The Christian tradition has related supreme compassion to the death of Jesus (who gives his life out of fidelity to men), and in a special way, to the gesture of those who have accompanied him in pain, especially Mary, the mother of the. Normally, death awakens a movement of intense solidarity. In the face of a deceased misgivings, envy, fights cease and compassion remains. Certainly, the death of Jesus has aroused the compassion of some friends, the pain of some women. “Joseph of Arimathea came…and buying a sheet he took Jesus down (from the cross), wrapped him in the sheet and placed him in a tomb that was cut out of the rock. And Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joseph looked where he put it” (Mk 15,46-47). This is how Mark has described the final sign of human compassion: Jesus has some friends after death (above death). In this context, and starting especially from Jn 19:25-27 (presence of the mother and the beloved disciple under the cross), the Church has discovered and developed the theme of the compassion of Mary who appears receiving on her knees and in her arms Jesus, the dead son; in this way the same words of Lc 2,35 are fulfilled in them: “And a sword must pierce your soul”; Mary appears in this way as a symbol and compendium of all those who feel sorry for others. But the Church has gone a step further, reinterpreting the last words of Jesus in Luke (“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!”: Lk 23:46) from the perspective of the compassion of God the Father. Jesus has died in the hands of the Father and this is how the images and paintings of medieval piety that are usually titled, such as this section: Compassion of the Father (compassio Patris) represent him. God the Father is represented as a sorrowful Pontiff, a priest of the Old Testament with the tiara of his authority on his head. He does not have the knife in his right hand like Abraham when he came to offer the promised son on the mountain (cf. Gn 22:10), nor like the priests who kill the sacrificial bull, lamb or kid. Nor does he carry the ball of the world in his powerful hands, as thinkers often represent him, but rather he welcomes Jesus, the dead man, on his knees and compassionate hands, so that more than a strong father, he now seems a selfless and compassionate mother. In this line, traditional piety has united the “compassion of Mary”, woman-mother, who has received the dead son in her arms, with the compassion of the Father-God, who receives him in the bosom of the love of she. For this reason, the motifs of compassio Matris et Patris (compassion of the mother and the Father) come to intersect and are often exchanged in the vision and in the icons of the Church. God the Father thus receives the traits of a sorrowful mother. Being a Father-Mother does not consist only in procreating the child when he is born, in order to abandon him. The true Father accompanies the Son on the way, sustains him and receives him by giving him his life. This Father, a compassionate priest who receives the dead Son with strong love, is no longer the principle of law, but total mercy*.
Cf. Germán de Pamplona, Iconography of the Holy Trinity in Spanish medieval art, CSIC, Madrid 1970; X. Pikaza, The Bible of the poor, Desclée de Brouwer, Bilbao 1982.
PIKAZA, Javier, Dictionary of the Bible. History and Word, Divine Word, Navarra 2007
Source: Dictionary of Bible History and Word
The inner attitude of peace blossoms into compassion. This term has several meanings; in the classical tradition, taken from Buddhism, it means tenderness and openness towards all creatures. From inner peace is born that delicacy, that attention,…