By David Peter csc –
Readings: 1 Jn 4:7-10; Mk 6:34-44
Let us love one another for love comes from God. The true love with which we have celebrated and welcomed baby Jesus into our lives a week ago through Christmas has been with a lot of preparations.
Today’s liturgy of the word gives us one of the reasons of Christmas. At Christmas, the word became flesh through the birth of Jesus. As we see in the first reading, God is love, the gospel of the day also shows us how Jesus practiced his love and compassion with humanity without any
kind of discrimination among the people. Jesus was moved with compassion by seeing the people like sheep without a shepherd.
Reflecting on today’s gospel, I find three types of characters: Firstly, the people who had total submission and dependence on Jesus and lost themselves in listening to his teachings. Secondly, the disciples who thought about others, looking into the needs of others, and trying to do
something for them.
Lastly, we see the character of Jesus fulfilling the needs of the people with compassion. The gospel of the day helps us realise that at once Jesus had these three characters. He was dependent on his father in multiplying the bread, he saw the people and their need for both spiritual and physical guidance, and finally he fed people’s hunger by nourishing them with the word of God and bread.
Today is an invitation for us to accept the love of God and share that unconditional love with one another imitating Jesus, our shepherd and imbibing his values in leading his flock and giving attention to their needs without any discrimination.