Purposeful Compassion

The word 'compassion' comes from two Latin words - 'suffer' and 'with'. Therefore, to show compassion means to suffer with someone, to enter into a person's negative situation and become involved in that person's distress. Compassion is not a theoretical attitude, put a practical involvement. It involves doing, not just thinking or saying! 'A compassionate response to suffering requires that (a) one be moved by the suffering of the other; (b) act to remove the immediate effects of the suffering; and (c) respond to correct the circumstances which may have given rise to the suffering itself.' (New Dictionary of Christian Ethics)