In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, the pope mentioned the virtue of compassion. He defined it as the lens of the heart to see and understand reality better. He explained it by remembering this photograph.
POPE FRANCIS
On a winter night, in front of a fancy restaurant, a lady who lives in the street reaches out to another lady who is leaving, all bundled up, from the restaurant. This other lady looked the other way. That is indifference. Go see that picture: that's indifference. Our indifference. How many times do we look the other way?
If compassion is the God's language, often times human language is indifference: dealing with people only to a certain extent.
Pope Francis requested Catholics ask themselves if they have become accustomed to looking the other way, or if they let themselves be moved by compassion.
EXTRACTS OF PAPAL HOMILY
Source: Vatican News
“Compassion allows you to see reality; compassion is like the lens of the heart: it allows us to take in and understand the true dimensions. In the Gospels, Jesus is often moved by compassion. Compassion is also the language of God. Our God is a God of compassion, and compassion - we can say – is the weakness of God, but also His strength.”
'The disciples were prudent. I believe that at that moment Jesus was angry, in his heart, and when he heard their answer he urged them to give them food!”
“The Lord had compassion because he saw these people as sheep without a shepherd, said the Pope, noting that the Gospel speaks, on one hand, of Jesus’ gesture of compassion, and on the other of the selfish attitude of the disciples who seek a solution without compromise, who do not get their hands dirty, as if to leave those people to get on with it: If compassion is the language of God, so often human language is that of indifference.”
