I have always loved these lines by Francis Thompson, the same poet who wrote “The Hound of Heaven”:
“All things by immortal power,
Near or far, Hiddenly
To each other linked are,
That thou canst not stir a flower
Without troubling of a star.”
Even modern day science accepts as fact that all that exists is intimately interconnected in the fabric of time and space. Everything waxes and wanes, vibrates and pulsates according to one cosmic rhythm and melody. Could it be that through my feelings of angst and ennui, I am catching the vibes of another person who is suffering right now? The feelings come unbidden and for no apparent reason, except perhaps that my feelings are resonating to the rhythm and vibrations from another human person? Anonymously and generously, I can take on those feelings even if they are not my own and suffer with that unknown person? This is the essence of compassion. I can share in the burden of the other, even if he is unknown to me. This is the essence of empathy. I can send of positive vibrations of life-giving energy and inspiring light to counter the darkness that threatens to engulf and overpower us. In this context, Christ suffering for me on the cross does make sense.
This cosmic and universal interconnectedness is strong in the life and teachings of Christ, who often would speak of his oneness with the Father. There is an intimate link between him and the ultimate and infinite Source of all life and light. The final lines of the “The Hound of Heaven puts it so eloquently:
Halts by me that footfall; Is my gloom, after all, Shade of His hand, outstreched caressingly? "Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, I am He Whom thou seekest! Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.
John 5:17-24