Rarely do we find the three readings in a Sunday mass offering such a beautiful flow of thought that moves from our needs and brokenness to the promise of closeness to God in Christ and to know his concern for our well-being as demonstrated by his mercy and compassion.
 
That, in summary, is what happens in the first, second and Gospel readings. In the book of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord invites all who are thirsty to come and drink and all who have no money to come receive grain and eat. In the second reading, St. Paul in his letter to the Romans lays out a solid truth: nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
These two readings speak of how we are invited constantly to come to the Lord, seek his mercy, and to know that nothing can separate us from his love. That is our task, or better said, his invitation. Never lose focus on this: Jesus calls people, us included, not by an order, but nearly always as an invitation.
 
That is not meant to indicate passivity, for it is always the good Lord who takes the initiative. This is the great dynamic of God’s mercy. He invites, he gives, he loves. God in Christ seeking us out, God in Christ looking upon us in our need and brokenness, God in Christ who seeks closeness to us. God: ever-waiting, ever-watchful, ever-available and ever merciful. St. Paul is on to something: nothing can or should separate us from him.
 
In high theological language, we refer to that as omniscience; God is all-knowing. In some strange way, that might cause some to fear, but with faith you can clearly understand we are talking about a reassuring truth. Hold onto it. God’s knowledge of us moves his merciful heart …towards us, towards his children.

We arrive at the culmination of this dynamic of mercy as we hear recounted in the Gospel reading from Matthew: “When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.”   
 
Perhaps that comes as no surprise: God in Christ looking upon us with mercy and responding with compassion. God in Christ knowing our needs and providing for us as he does when he feeds the multitude. What I am speaking of is how God acts, how God moves, how he loves.
 
At the beginning of his papacy in 2005, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI wrote on this dynamic in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. While God’s love had been moving through history as we hear recounted in the Old Testament, in Christ something new occurs. Benedict XVI writes, “This divine activity now takes on dramatic form when, in Jesus Christ, it is God himself who goes in search of the ‘stray sheep’, a suffering and lost humanity.”
 
That insight helps us to understand my frequent references to “God in Christ.” The expression reflects what is happening in the Gospel reading and takes us to the heart of our Christian faith: the mystery of God made known to us through the Incarnation: God made visible and as real as possible in and through Christ Jesus.
 
This distinguishes our Christian faith from any other religion in the world: the real and incarnate, physical, closeness of God to us in Jesus Christ. Today we see at work the reason behind the Incarnation: to be with us, to save us, to love us.
 
In being moved with pity for the crowds, the Lord Jesus demonstrates the dynamic and active nature of the Incarnation. As Christ witnesses the pain and human struggle surrounding him, we witness a treasure: God’s closeness to us, his sharing in our nature, his experience of our condition.
 
The feeding of the multitude teaches us clearly of the Lord’s power.  To multiply the loaves and fishes to feed thousands of people is a powerful miracle but done for the most down to earth of reasons: to satisfy the pangs of empty stomachs.
 
But underneath it all, we must not only discern the “divine activity” taking place, but also the motive: to care for us, to show us the meaning of compassion. Underneath it all, we must recognize the relationship - God and us in and through Christ.
 
Through it all, we must honestly recognize our needs and, with compassion, recognize the needs of those around us. Through it all, we should rejoice that Christ not only recognizes us, he became one of us to love us even more closely.