6 December 2014- GOSPEL MT 9:35-10:1

Saturday of the first week of Advent

GOSPEL MT 9:35-10:1, 5A, 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.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, "Go 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."

Reflection:

In today's Gospel, Jesus sends His 12 disciples out to preach & heal d pple. While preaching d Good News, they were given power to cast out d unclean spirits & to heal all kinds of sicknesses.

Today's Gospel calls us to understand d significance of our call as a Christian.

I wd like to focus on 2 verses frm today's Gospel:

1. "The harvest is plentiful, bt the labourers r few." - Jesus said this bz He saw His sheep struggling wtout a shepherd. He felt pity for them & thats y He sent His disciples to continue His work.

Jesus is right in saying that d harvest is more & d labourers r few, bt I wd say d harvest will never bcm less. There is a lot of work in God's vineyard & evn there r many labourers, who need to come forward to preach God's Word. The labourers r few bz very few r getting involved in d Church activities. What abt others??? Where r they?????

2. "Without cost u hv received; wtout cost u r to give." - All of us hv received so many things free frm d Lord. V cannot b so selfish by keeping it to ourselves. V hv to share wt others. V need to sit & reflect upon what can v share wt others. My time, my knowledge....etc??????

It was the compassion of Jesus which moved Him to call His disciples. Therefore in all d ministries, v Christians undertake, v shd hv d compassion like Jesus.

If v fail to b compassionate towards our pple, there is no meaning in our ministry. The strict rules r meant for d disciples bt unfortunately v r too strict with our flock bt r very compassionate wt ourselves.

Some1 has rightly said, "A Christian wtout compassion is like a body without soul".

Let us all pray for more vocations.

Jesus loves u. Hv a gr8 weekend wt Jesus. God bless.