Dear All,
“When Jesus saw the crowd harassed and dejected like sheep without a shepherd, he felt with them in the centre of his being… He became lost with the lost, hungry with the hungry, and sick with the sick. In him all suffering was sensed with a perfect sensitivity. The great mystery revealed to us in this is that Jesus…chose in total freedom to suffer fully our pains and needs.” Henri Nouwen
In these words of reflection on Matthew 9:36, Catholic Priest, Professor and writer Henri Nouwen invites us to see the heart of Christ as we journey through Lent. Jesus does not merely notice the crowd’s distress; he feels it ‘in the centre of his being’. Here, we are not thinking about some kind of distant pity but profound solidarity. Jesus becomes lost with the lost, hungry with the hungry, sick with the sick. In him, God does not stand apart from suffering but enters it fully.
Lent reminds us that this was not a random event in history or some kind of accident but was actually a choice of love. Christ freely embraced our vulnerability, our confusion, our pain. The cross, towards which we now walk, reveals a God who would rather share our suffering than remain safely beyond it. That truth comforts us in our own weariness and calls us to deeper compassion. As a church, we are invited to follow this pattern. To walk through Lent is to allow our hearts to be softened - to see those who suffer around us and to feel their pain. In doing so, we reflect the tender, courageous love of Christ himself.
So, in a world harassed by injustice, inequality, displacement, and despair, we are invited to embody this same courageous compassion. In our prayers during Lent, we do not, and never will, pray to somehow escape the world, rather, we seek to be sent back into it more sensitive, attentive and active. As we journey towards the cross, we remember: God’s power is revealed, not in domination, but in compassion that refuses to turn away and enters into suffering; friends, let us be those who always choose the way of love.
With much love,
