Wednesday 5 December

Isaiah 25:6-10; Psalm 22 (23); Matthew 15:29-37

Moved with compassion

For the last time, Matthew offers a summary of the healing mission of Jesus which echoes the age of the Messiah of Isaiah 35:5-6. The crowd express their amazement and praise God. As a shepherd caring for sheep, Jesus links healing with feeding. His deep emotion for the crowd is expressed by his being ‘moved with compassion’. This word in Greek means, literally, entrails, bowels or guts, and metaphorically the depths of one’s being. How, like Jesus, may I be ‘moved by compassion’ to people who are marginalised and in need?