Empathy … When a Soul Bleeds

I wonder what words are conjured up when someone says the word empathy to you? For many of us empathy occurs when we make a connection to someone or something that’s going on around us or going on in the world. Empathy can be sometimes just feeling sorry for another person, or the situation that they’re in. But it can be deeper.

Being empathetic is not a psychological response, it’s usually a heartfelt one. When we feel the other’s pain, if not physically, but emotionally as we travel with them on the journey that they are experiencing. We often are more empathetic to those who are close to us. I was talking to my wife recently, (as one does), and she noted how heartfelt her feelings are when one of the family members is going through some trauma or difficulty. In some ways this is involuntary empathy, we are journeying with them whether we want to or not, even if we don’t have control of the outcome. 

We pick up the phone and have an empathetic conversation, but we’re not thinking empathy, we’re doing empathy. As we travel through this period of Lent, this involuntary suffering or sharing of suffering is surely the same thing that Jesus was encountering many times in his ministry. This could be no more present than during the Passion of Jesus Christ. 

We see situations where empathy can move from just heartfelt sympathy or understanding into action. A recent presentation by Doctor Jeffrey Burns from the Franciscan School of Theology outlined how Maximilian Kolbe gave his life for another out of this sense of empathy. So, what does makes up empathy? Well like many things spiritual they are always entwined with love. Kolbe’s sacrifice for another didn’t just save one life but saved many others spiritually who witnessed the event before and since. 

I suggest that empathy is the soul bleeding. Your soul bleeding with love. Sharing another’s pain. Being present when you were most needed. Communicating God’s love through the vessel which is your soul. 

So, the next time you feel empathetic, and you don’t have to think about it too much, it just happens, consider the source that is making you feel this way. Whether it’s joy or sadness being empathetic is sharing the blood of your own soul. 

Just as Jesus shared His with us.

Image and Reflection Copyright 2024 Michael J. Cunningham OFS 

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