My heart is moved with pity

Greetings on this the Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Note: Lent beings Ash Wednesday this week. May you have a fruitful Lent.

Readings: Gn 3:9-24; PS 90:2, 3-4abc, 5-6, 12-13; Mk 8:1-10

First Reading – the Fall

So much has been written about the Fall of Adam and Eve. Perhpas I shall just list some bullet points for reflection. Pity is different from compassion. Compassion is ‘co-suffering’. Pity is a unilateral action, one to another. Divine pity is a unilateral action that is of a quality that can only be done by the Divine One.

Remember the Lord is always taking pity on us from the very beginning. The divine actions follow:

1. The serpant is expelled. I will put enmity between you and the woman (the mother of all peoples).
2. The woman will become the great unitier for all time (Mary). Your urge shall be for your husband.
3. Man is given work as a blessing and diversion from sin (grace).
4. The LORD God made leather garments to cover their nakedness (sacrifice).
5. He relocated them to east of the garden of Eden to protect them from the garden danger (ark).

In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Gospel
Jesus takes pity on us. He is constantly doing things that no ordinary person can do. He provides in his person the Divine Pity – divine action – of love.

In today’s reading, he performs a super abundant multiplication of the loaves.

He continues to love and pity us to this day by giving us the living bread, his body, in the Holy Eucharist. It is what the Divine and only the Divine can offer.

Take.
Eat.
And see the Lord is good.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry