Nouwen rightly says that the degree to which we grieve our own losses is in direct proportion to the depth and quality of the compassion we can offer to others. “There is no compassion without many tears . . . To become like the Father whose only authority is compassion, I have to shed countless tears and so prepare my heart to receive anyone, whatever their journey has been, and forgive them from the heart.”22 Absorbing our own pain, we are able to enter the pain of others. We become mature lovers and true mothers and fathers of the faith.
