Honoring the original Greek verb splanchnizomai, "compassion," means an intense visceral empathy with the suffering of the other. Jesus feels the agony of their pain in the depth of his own stomach, an experiential connection that drives one into passionate action to rectify the cause of the suffering. "Compassion" is a word full of guts, vitality, righteous anger, and an insatiable desire to see justice done. It has nothing to do with piety or mercy, the insipid words often used to translate this otherwise fiery term.

Diarmuid O'Murchu, Catching Up with Jesus