To be able to feel the pain of the world is to participate in the very heart of God. The compassionate response of God’s people to human suffering is one of their defining characteristics. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. It will be the humble, not the haughty, who will be the favored ones here; this kingdom turns our understanding of the logic of power and who’s on top upside down. Mary’s Song, called the Magnificat, promises the same when she prays about what the coming of