DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Saturday, October 20, 2018

 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. – Matthew 9:35-36

And Christ saw with His own eyes and with His own heart that the people without power, the poor and the working poor, those deemed of possessing less worth than those with money and positions of prestige, were harassed and helpless.  And today … when Christ looks out over the people, He still sees with compassion the harassed and the helpless, the defenseless and the desperate.  And if the heart of Christ had this compassionate response … then it would seem that our own hearts, we with Christ living within us, would have that same compassionate response.

Yet, so many Christians in whom the qualities of compassion and mercy appear rather faint, choose instead to blame, chastise, cast aside, ignore these people in the crowd .We fear being taken advantage of by these lesser ones; we fear being asked to share in God’s Providence for the community; we fear being burdened with dealing with the needs of others.

Jesus speaks of flocks without shepherds, leaders who care, guide, protect the flocks, shepherds willing to risk themselves to provide care for both the individual and the community.  Jesus understood that He would need to be that shepherd and His disciples in their turn and we in our turn.

When you look upon the crowds, the poor, the refugees, the harassed and the helpless … what is the response of your heart?

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr Charitas de la Cruz