Moved With Pity February 10

Memorial of Saint Scholastica, virgin

By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.” Genesis 3:19

“Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Mark 8:4

Piety

Father, we are dust and our days are numbered. So what shall we do with your message? Why not just eat, drink and be merry? No, instead, you want us to join your family, as brothers and sisters who listen to Your Word and heed its lessons like the crowd in Tyre. When we do, you shall provide for us a feast of the finest proportions that we may gain wisdom of the heart during the few days we have in life. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/021007.shtml

It is hard to miss the Eucharistic overtones and inclusivity of the loaves and fishes stories in Mark’s Gospel…one story feeding the Jews and the other feeding the Gentiles. Both groups received the bread of life from the hands of God.

However, something different struck me upon this reading -- how the attitude of our Lord changes from Eden to Tyre. Why does it matter? Perhaps because not only is Jesus’ attitude different. So, too, is the attitude of the followers who are listening to Jesus on the hillside, hearing the Word of God.

Adam and Eve turned a deaf ear to the instructions given by God about the tree of life. At the first sign of temptation from the serpent, they ate from the forbidden tree. This angered God and he banished them from Eden. They were made to toil and sweat for food rather than have everything provided by God.

The people who gathered around Jesus at Tyre, however, were listening to Him. In fact, they had spent three days listening to him. So long, in fact, that everyone, even the disciples, was running out of food. So, instead of the anger we witnessed in Genesis, the Lord is move with pity for the people who listen to him and provides food for the people assembled. Mark 3:35 reminds us that “(For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Action

The crowd received its just rewards. Look at our society and find a group that is not getting its just rewards. Immigrants doing jobs no one else wants to do? Truck drivers delivering our food and goods yet caught short by high fuel process while the barons of Wall Street investors and industry leaders make record billions in profits? Police, firefighters and teachers serving our communities yet unable to afford housing near their workplaces?

What shall be done to change the situation? WWJD?