She describes the overwhelming delight of caring for her baby daughter. It was a shudder in my body, an energy I had to soften, reign in, lest I squeeze her too hard, startle her with too exuberant a kiss. Evelyn Eaton Whitehead is a developmental psychologist Ph. James D. Whitehead is a theologian Ph. In their shared career spanning forty-five years and fifteen books, the Whiteheads continue to explore the vital themes emerging in contemporary Christian spirituality.
Jesus told the story of a wayward son who returned to the father he had sorely wronged. Instead, the father rushed out to meet his son, overjoyed at his return. Jesus tells us this is what God is like. God receives us not as judge but Abba, an extravagantly loving parent who wants our care for one another to show the same abundant concern. Compassion is an experience of eros.
Ordinarily we think of compassion as commiseration, as feeling the suffering of another person, but compassion has a more expansive meaning. I have this up already but I will share it here. At the cross, Satan was defeated in the spirit realm by Michael the archangel.
In the Catholic tradition, Michael the Archangel is the guardian and protector of the Holy Eucharist. That is, falling in love with Christ. I have this up in another thread but it fits here with the theme of Holy Eros. This is the Christian Artist KB singing a song to his baby daughter about falling in love with her:. One more quote from the book.
