Listening to the voice of Christ in times of distress

Deacon Neil’s homily at Mass on the Second Sunday after Trinity (14 June)

When we find ourselves in distress or tormented, whose voice do we listen to? Who do we call on?

God speaks of Israel as a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. He didn’t choose Israel because they were the strongest or the most impressive nation: quite the opposite.

Throughout Scripture, we see God repeatedly calling ordinary, imperfect people. Israel is chosen because, through them, the whole world might come to know God. That same calling belongs to us.

Through Baptism, each of us is called to make God present in the world, not only by what we say, but by how we live our lives. God doesn’t wait for us to be perfect before calling us: he meets us where we are. His grace always comes first.

When we begin to realise how deeply we’re loved, it changes everything. It changes the way we see ourselves, the way we see one another, the way we see the world.

In today's Gospel, Jesus looks upon the crowds and sees that they’re harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. His compassion is more than sympathy; it’s a love that moves toward people in their need.

And so we return to the question we began with: when we find ourselves in distress, whose voice do we listen to? And who do we call upon?

The Gospel points us to the answer. We listen to the voice of Christ, the Good Shepherd. We call upon the one who hears us, who sees us in our time of need.

St Francis de Sales taught that compassion begins by seeing others with mercy rather than condemnation; he believed that only God truly knows the struggles, intentions, the wounds hidden within a person’s heart. This is a reminder that we should respond first with patience and understanding.

He famously urged us to “drink the sacred wine of charity,” always choosing the most loving interpretation possible. His compassion wasn’t weakness. It was a reflection of God’s own mercy.

The truth is that we’re all called to be a shepherd in some way, called to help each other to move closer to Christ. Sometimes that happens through words. More often, its through simple acts of kindness. Perhaps that’s part of the Church’s mission: to help people encounter God in ways that truly touch their hearts and lives.

In the coming months you’re going to hear three words: Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. They offer a path that lead people towards God: the beauty of prayer and worship, the truth of the Gospel, and the goodness revealed in lives marked by compassion and faithfulness.

That remains our challenge today.

Yesterday I was ordained to the diaconate — but the mission we hear about in today’s Gospel belongs to the whole Church. Each of us, in our own way, is called to be a labourer in that harvest — in our homes — our workplaces — our communities — wherever God places us.

So let us pray for the grace to see the world as Christ sees it: with compassion.

The featured image advertising this post is of Christ and the Apostles Feeding the Five Thousand, after Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794–1872)

At that time: When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”
    And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
    These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay.”