What do you need most in life right now? For what do you hunger the most? Peace, strength, wisdom, healing...something else?

When Jesus sees the crowd, he has an emotional response. He has compassion for them. "If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way-and some of them have come from a great distance" (Mk. 8:3). He sees life from their eyes. Jesus is God, yet he empathizes with people who are suffering. He feels their hunger.

Today the Church celebrates St. Scholastica. Born in 480 in Italy, she was the twin sister of St. Benedict. Scholastica desired to give herself to the Lord, so while still a youth, she dedicated her life to Christ. She lived in community with other holy women. Scholastica's prayer was powerful and known to have immediate effects. Pope St. Gregory the Great once explained: God heard Scholastica's prayer because her prayer was filled with love.

Do you believe that the Lord hears you when you pray? The Gospel invites us to trust that Jesus has deep compassion for us. Jesus sees our hunger...and wants to satisfy us.

We can imitate Scholastica today. With love in your heart, ask the Lord for what you need most.