Charter of Compassion

Affirmation:  My seven step Charter of Compassion is: Pray, Embrace Silence, Meditate at least 20 minutes once a day, Listen to God’s Voice, Affirm what is Important to me, Release it into God’s Love and Love; non-judging, non-grasping, and unconditional.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a small workshop led by Sister Maureen (Sister Mo) of the Sisters of the Precious Blood.  She is a consummate retreat leader.  She has led many retreats and is a spiritual counselor.  I didn’t know Sister Mo before the retreat.  It was an honor and a pleasure to meet her and work with her.  We spent the weekend working on our Charter of Compassion.  There were several of us who attended and I must tell you, we each had a very different concept of what this charter should look like.  We weren’t instructed how to formulate it or given any outline for it.  We simply spent time talking about compassion.  What did it look like?  How did you know it when you saw or heard about it?  Who do you know that you consider compassionate?  Who have you heard about who you thought embodied the concept?  Do you think it’s important?  Why?  When?  Where?  Then, we were instructed to journal and write about whatever came up and see where it might lead us.

Some people wrote eloquently about compassion for the world and how they believed that could be accomplished; some wrote about their families, some about their volunteer work.  There was a myriad of concepts, all wonderful, all filled with hope.

The above affirmation was the charter I developed.  I decided I needed to begin with me and hoped it would be like throwing a pebble in the pond, only to see the ripple reach out to the very ends.  And, for me, it seemed these were the necessary steps.  I’ve kept it just the way I formulated during the retreat, except I had hoped I could meditate for 20 minutes, twice a day.  I did for a long time, and I may again but it became onerous as time went on, so I took compassion on myself and changed it to once a day.  I still have days when I don’t get to it but I am always aware of my intention.

What about you?  What would your Charter of Compassion look like?  Do you think it might be a worthwhile endeavor to develop one?  If you do, I hope you’ll share it here and with the world.