Fr. Bob’s Corner

The opening words of this Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 9:36) remind me of the time when Jesus looked down into the old city of Jerusalem and wept: “When Jesus saw the crowd, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless….”

Catherine Doherty used to use the term, ‘the gift of tears’. By this, I believe she meant that there were some people who had the wonderful ability to see and know the suffering of others and to experience it in the depth of their own hearts. In other words, those that had this gift could see like Jesus. Like Jesus they were filled with compassion and yearned to reach out a healing hand.

It was this gift that Jesus was giving to his apostles, and this is why he called them together and sent them out. “Go,” he said to his apostles, “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near.’”

Each one of us must strive and pray to be more and more like the one that we follow - Jesus the compassionate one - the merciful, forgiving and loving face of God.

Filled with God’s grace we will be inspired in love to reach beyond all that divides us, and truly discover the kingdom of God in our hearts and in our midst. We too, like the disciples that were personally taught and instructed by Jesus, will become joyous laborers bringing the good news of the gospel to the harassed and helpless people of this modern world.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”