Compassionate Faith: Teaches and Heals

How do you feel about the miraculous happenings in the Bible? Some of us may believe that those miracles actually happened in the past and are still happening in the present as a response to severe human hardships. Others of us may believe that those miraculous stories are meant to highlight the need for us to positively affect the lives of those who are suffering in poverty or illness that leads to transformational results, but the stories are not true accounts.

The compassionate and faithful response from Jesus that was exhibited in this week's reading from Mark 6:30-34 and 53-56 was both miraculous and transformational. Even though he and his disciples were very tired and hungry and needed to eat and rest, they saw those who came to them in desperate circumstances and as Mark wrote, "When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd."

It led me to think - how does our compassion and faith lead us to respond to the desperate needs of those increasing crowds of people among us bring about miraculous or profound transformational results in their lives?