Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 9,35-38.10,1.6-8.
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
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.”
We see Jesus active in the streets with the people.
- Accessible. It is Jesus who approaches people and becomes accessible to others. That’s the Jesus we have to present and introduce to others: an accessible Jesus who approaches those who are in pain. We have to go out and be near to the person in need, to those who are suffering.
But the key to this is the word “compassion”. Compassion is defined literally as “suffering with another” or “co-suffering.” Compassion involves “feeling for another” and “feeling as another”. This means suffering with, for, and next to the one in pain.
Today we live in a world where indifference reigns. In some places, you don’t even know your neighbor. That indifference can destroy a community and will result in a terrible coldness. Some people have even fallen into the terrible disease of rejoicing in other people’s misfortune. - Heal and alleviate. Jesus shows us that he gets involved in the lives of others and invites you as a missionary to do exactly that. Not to gossip, clearly. A gossip is interested in what happens to the other person to reveal it to others and give his or her opinion about it. Jesus proposes that we get involved in the lives of others to help them, to heal, and to soothe their suffering. What about you? Do you gossip about others or do you heal them?
- Missionaries. We are called to look for stray sheep. Today, it seems to me that instead of going out to look for the lost sheep and leaving the ninety-nine, we should go out and look for the ninety-nine, and stop being exclusively devoted to one. Let’s not be comfortable Christians; remember that we are in the world, but we are not of the world. Let’s get down to work, there are many sad faces and resentful hearts.
Let’s work to show that there is hope; that we can recover from sadness and suffering. Demonstrate that life is one worth living… that we can change, no matter how serious the sin we’ve committed. God needs us! Let’s go out and show Jesus to others. We should be a Church involved in the life of others to heal them and not to gossip about them. Let’s go out and heal…
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Remember, Heaven is our goal!
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