In today's Gospel, Matthew 14: 13-21, when Jesus returns from a deserted place where he had been grieving the murder of his cousin John the Baptist, Jesus meets a crowd of people, about 5000 men plus women and children. "When...he saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them."
Jesus is likewise moved with pity for you and me and vast crowds of people that assemble for political rallies, for sport's events or any other kind of entertainment, for religious gatherings or family reunions, weddings, or funerals; those gathered at our borders and in modern-day concentration cams, those detained in cages and locked up in overcrowded prisons!
Jesus, I believe, weeps for all of us and especially for those suffering at our hands. Imagine Jesus looking on when a person faces violence--physical, verbal, emotional abuse--at the hands of an out-of-control policeman/woman, a jealous lover, a clergy person, a corrupt politician, a gun-wielding mentally ill person, an out of-control family member or co-worker. Jesus, I believe, weeps when he witnesses these scenes and especially when a person loses his/her life because of our violent behavior.
In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 81, the Lord says to us: "If only my people would hear me, and Israel (you and me and all people) walk in my ways, quickly would I humble their enemies (especially those within us); against their foes I would turn my hand." Each one of us depends totally upon the Lord to "humble our enemies" and "to turn his hand against our foes". We need God's help, always, to do good and avoid evil. And when we fall into sin, we need to ask God, the other person against whom we have sinned and ourselves for forgiveness.
God forgives us. Do we forgive ourselves and one another?
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