Empathy

I have my arguments with Gaudium et spes, but I have to admit that the opening of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World is quite something:

The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.

I was reminded of this by the critique Jesus delivers in the today's gospel:

Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’


It is part of our confession of the Incarnation, our belief that the Word was made flesh, that we should rejoice in all human rejoicing and mourn every human grief. All genuine human happiness and flourishment is the business of a Christian because it is all grace. All human suffering, depression, and depair is our concern because it is part of the mystery of sin.

That the Word of God, Who was with God from the beginning, and Who is God should have become flesh, not just taking on flesh like a garment, but becoming flesh, raises all human experience to a new kind of theologically dignity and gravity.