In his Aug. 2 message to the congregation of Saint James Catholic Cathedral in Orlando, the Rev. Miguel Gonzalez connected the messages of the Old and New Testaments in describing a God whose love can never be separated from His people.

Gonzalez discusses the first reading from Isaiah and the revelation of God’s mercy in quenching the thirst of those in need, referencing then the words of Saint Paul in writing to the Romans as he assured the early Church that no force or circumstance exists that can separate God’s people from His boundless love.

He then follows on to the Gospel reading, in which Jesus heals and feeds those who had followed Him into the wilderness after the death of John the Baptist.

“Jesus was fully aware that the immense crowd was experiencing two types of hunger,” Gonzalez wrote. “Rich in kindness, the Lord tends to both the physical and spiritual hunger of those who went out to meet Him in the desert.”