Most of us do not appreciate unsolicited advice. Yet, it is something entirely different when we find answers to the questions our heart is ready to ask.

They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:33-34)

Jesus was not disgusted, annoyed, disappointed, or even frustrated with the people he came to save. “His heart was moved with pity for them.” The Greek word for pity, splanchnizomai, means “to be moved as to one’s bowels, hence, to be moved with compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity)” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). Perhaps he did feel those other things towards the ones who led his little sheep astray, but it was not so towards them. He saw them seeking, so “he began to teach them.”

“Let’s not forget this: to live the law as an instrument of freedom, which helps me to be more free, which helps me not to be slaves to our passions and sin.” (Pope Francis, Angelus address on 02/16/2020)

To live in the freedom of the children of God, we must learn the law, the truth, for the truth shall set us free (cf. John 8:32). But to learn this truth, we must first seek.

Lord, teach me your statutes. (Psalm 119:12)

We arrive at each celebration of the Eucharist seeking, hungry, part of a vast crowd. Jesus is moved with compassion; through the priest, he teaches us many things. Then he breaks the bread and feeds us with his very self, giving us everything we need.

Does the Eucharist move us to pity for our fellow human beings?

Let us pray:

Save us, O Lord our God! And gather us from the nations, To give thanks to your holy name, and make it our glory to praise you. (Entrance Antiphon, Psalm 105:47)