Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
He will give rain for the seed that you sow in the ground, and the wheat that the soil produces will be rich and abundant. On that day your flock will be given pasture and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows; the oxen and the asses that till the ground will eat silage tossed to them with shovel and pitchfork. Upon every high mountain and lofty hill there will be streams of running water. On the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall, the light of the moon will be like that of the sun and the light of the sun will be seven times greater like the light of seven days. On the day the Lord binds up the wounds of his people, he will heal the bruises left by his blows.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power: to his wisdom there is no limit. The Lord sustains the lowly; the wicked he casts to the ground.
Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness “Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
“Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Fr. Xavier PAGÉS i Castañer (Barcelona, Spain)Today, having already completed a week of our journey in preparation for Christmas, we have seen that one of the virtues we must cultivate during Advent is hope. But not a passive hope, like someone waiting for a train to come, but an active hope, which moves us to prepare ourselves, doing everything necessary so that Jesus may be born again in our hearts.
But we must try not to be content with only what we hope for, but—above all—to go and discover what God expects of us. Like the twelve apostles, we too are called to follow his ways. May we hear today the voice of the Lord who, through the prophet Isaiah, tells us: “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21, from today’s first reading). As each of us follows His way, God expects all of us to proclaim with our lives that “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7).
Today's Gospel tells us how, faced with that multitude of people, Jesus had compassion on them and said, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Mt 9:37-38). He has chosen to place his trust in us and wants us to respond to our calling to become apostles in our world, in all its diversity. The mission for which God the Father sent his Son into the world requires us to be his successors. In our day, we also find a disoriented and hopeless multitude, thirsting for the Good News of Salvation that Christ brought us, of which we are the messengers. It is a mission entrusted to everyone. Aware of our weaknesses and handicaps, let us rely on constant prayer and be happy to become collaborators in the plan of redemption that Christ has revealed to us.
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“The harvest is great but the laborers are few. This cannot be said without a heavy heart, for although there are many to hear the good news there are only a few to preach it. Pray for us so that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation.” (Saint Gregory the Great)
“The world is not a futile confusion of drudgery and pain, for all the distress the world contains is supported in the arms of merciful love. The person who celebrates Advent in this spirit will legitimately be able to speak of the joyous, blessed and grace-filled season of Christmas.” (Benedict XVI)
“With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing: ‘For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man’.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church Nº 456)
