I Remind Myself That My

Compassion Is Not A Popular Virtue. Very Often When I Talk To Religious People, And Mention How Important It Is That Compassion Is The Key, That It's The Sine-qua-non Of Religion, People Look Kind Of Balked, And Stubborn Sometimes, As Much To Say, What's The Point Of Having Religion If You Can't Disapprove Of Other People?

You Know How It Is In The Symphony When You Are Listening To The Symphony, The Last Notes Die Away, And There's Often A Beat Of Silence In The Auditorium Before The Applause Begins. It's A Very Full And Pregnant Silence. Now Theology Should Bring Us To Live Into That Silence, Into That Pregnant Pause.

Religious Ideas And Practices Take Root Not Because They Are Promoted By Forceful Theologians, Nor Because They Can Be Shown To Have A Sound Historical Or Rational Basis, But Because They Are Found In Practice To Give The Faithful A Sense Of Sacred Transcendence.

The More Aggressive Our Ideologies Become, The More Aggressive Our Discourse Whether It's In The United States, From Washington D.c., Or Whether It's From Tehran, Or From Some Underground Al-qaeda Cell. The More Aggressive That Discourse Is, The More People Of Moderate Persuasion Have To Organize And Speak A Voice Of Compassion. That Means To Feel With The Other.

Compassion Is A Practically Acquired Knowledge, Like Dancing. You Must Do It And Practice Diligently Day By Day.