200 days’ wages worth

We are familiar with the saying in Is 55:8, “My thoughts are not your thought”. God’s justice is founded on compassion. The prodigal father showed his justice through his compassion. The Good shepherd showed his justice through compassion on that one sheep. The landowner showed his justice through compassion on those people who came last into his field. Whenever Jesus showed justice it had a shade of this compassion. His Sacred Heart was moved with compassion.

Wages are given to people who have worked. Quite often we feel the wages and salaries are not meeting our needs. If we get a bonus or through some miracle if I get a double salary, how would I feel? I work for myself and my comfort. That one salary is often not enough. What happens when I work for God? The disciples questioned Jesus: “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” – Jesus never answered that question with words, but in action ‘yes’.

One day’s food is 200 days of wages worth. Even if we are earning 50 dollars a day, can anyone spend 10000 dollars for a day’s meal? God can and God does it all the time. That is the justice of God shown through his compassion. His compassion has no limits. Eucharist is the symbolic gesture of God’s compassion where he gives his heart to all who come around his table.

Let us continue to experience the compassion of God and participate in it by being compassionate to our dear and near and also to the strangers, especially the poor and needy. Amen.