Image by Gerd Altmann
Recently I was invited to participate in an online event on compassion. One of the Jewish participants, Rabbi Ariel, shared possibly the most moving story on compassion I have ever heard in my existence.
From One Generation to the Other
His son was a participant on a study-abroad trip to visit the notorious Nazi concentration camps in Poland where Jews were detained in World War II – and where so many died. One of his very closest friends suddenly disappeared for many hours while they were visiting one of the camps.
When he came back, he was asked him where he had been. And he told Ariel’s son that he had visited an elderly Polish man who had saved his great-grandmother’s life. She and her husband had been deported to this camp during the war. The camp was divided into two sections, one for the women, one for the men. They worked on a rabbit farm which the Nazis exploited, and the supervisor of the farm was a 19-year-old Polish civilian.
From the Heart of Compassion
At one moment the great-grandmother cut her arm and the open wound started becoming badly infected. There were of course no medicines available for the Jewish detainees and her arm swelled and it was evident that sooner or later she would die. Then the Polish supervisor did something incredible. He cut his arm and put his wound on the grandmother’s wound so that he would contract the illness, which happened very rapidly.
As supervisor of the rabbit farm, he went to see the Nazis and said: “Look, I am doing good work for you, but I need medication if I am not to die. Please give me some.” So, they gave him the needed antibiotics which he hastened to share with the great- grandmother, thereby saving her life.
Rabbi Ariel concluded by saying his son’s friend had gone to visit the Polish supervisor, now 92, who lived nearby. This man, who had saved his great-grandmothers’ life, was the reason why he was there to tell the story.
In my book 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World, you will find the following blessing:
Blessing to Deepen Compassion
For a Deepening of My Compassion
Love in its special dimension of compassion constitutes one of the foundations of any civilized society. It is compassion that makes me sensitive to suffering, whatever form it may take. It is compassion that enlarges my heart and enables me to be sensitive to a need on the other side of the planet, that enables me to recognize a brother or sister in the shoddy bum in the street or the teenage prostitute in the local bar.
May compassion ever deepen my caring for the suffering of the world and still more my desire to heal it.
May my compassion cause me to immediately embrace any suffering I become aware of, not by taking it in and suffering with the other one, but by uplifting it in thought with the inspiration of Grace and depositing it at the feet of the infinite Love which heals all.
Rather than bemoan injustice in the world or catastrophes here or there, may compassion enable me to open my purse, my hands or my heart to relieve the pain others are going through.
May my daily newspaper or TV news bulletin become my daily prayer book as I bless and reverse all the dramatic or sad events reported, knowing and feeling that behind the hypnotic material scene there is another Reality of eternal light and universal, unconditional Love awaiting all.
May my compassion embrace Your wondrous creation, from the miniscule insect to the huge blue whale, from the modest shrub to the towering sequoias or the 3,000-year-old cedars of the Sahara, from the tiny stream to the infinite ocean, for You have created them for our enjoyment and pleasure.
And finally, may my compassion be so acute and sensitive that it ultimately learns to pierce the veil of ignorance that makes me see a material world of suffering where true vision discerns only the glorious omnipresence of infinite spiritual Love and its perfect manifestation everywhere.
Perhaps, in addition to better development programs, better social services (and these are urgently needed almost everywhere) we could add a little more compassion?
It might just be the missing element our societies so badly need.
©2021 by Pierre Pradervand. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission from the author's blog.
Book by this Author
365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World: Really Living One’s Spirituality in Everyday Life
by Pierre Pradervand.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to never feel any resentment for any wrong done to you, gossip or lie disseminated about you? To respond with full awareness to all situations and people rather than react from your gut? What freedom that would entail! Well, this is just one of the gifts the practice of blessing from the heart, i.e. sending out focused love energy, will do for you. This book, from the bestselling author of The Gentle Art of Blessing, will help you learn to bless all situations and people as you go through the day and add overwhelming joy and presence to your existence.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About The Author
Pierre Pradervand is the author of The Gentle Art of Blessing. He has worked, travelled and lived in over 40 countries on five continents, and has been leading workshops and teaching the art of blessing for many years, with remarkable responses and transformational results.
For over 20 years Pierre has been practising blessing and collecting testimonies of blessing as a tool for healing the heart, mind, body and soul.
Visit his website at https://gentleartofblessing.org
