“The compassion that Jesus felt was obviously quite different from superficial or passing feelings of sorrow or sympathy.  Rather, it extended to the most vulnerable part of Jesus’ being.  It is related to the Hebrew word for compassion, rachamim, which refers to the womb of Yahweh.  Indeed, compassion is such a deep, central, and powerful emotion in Jesus that it can only be described as a movement of the womb of God.  There, all the divine tenderness lies hidden.

There, God is father and mother, brother and sister, son and daughter.  There, all feelings, emotions, and passions are one in divine love.  When Jesus was moved to compassion, the source of all life trembled, the ground of all love burst open, and the abyss of God’s immense, inexhaustible, and unfathomable tenderness revealed itself.”

~ Henri Nouwen in Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life