HOMILY OF SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT YEAR B
Isaiah 30:19-21.23-26, Matthew 9:35-10:1.5a.6-8
“When he(Jesus) saw the crowd, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without Shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is rich, but the labourers are few”
Like Jesus in our today’s gospel, a true servant of God must possess undiluted compassion for the souls that are languishing in sins. Unless we carry the burdens of our sheep in our hearts, we cannot truly shepherd them. Rather they would simply be seen as mere statistics or possible harvest ground for personal gain.
These days, there are many labourers. It is unfortunate that only few are dedicated. Many are passionate, mostly for their personal gain to the detriment of the people’s salvation. The few labourers would simply only few are interested in souls winning.
Jesus must have seen this possibility playing out as he gazed at the helpless crowd. Some of the pharisees and religious leaders, were intent only on the form of religion. They were given away the souls of the people at the expense of religious observations.
Hence, he charged his disciples to go out and freely preach the gospel of salvation. He would not be a party to the idea of monetising the gospel. We cannot buy it with money, neither can anyone sell it.
The Lord wants us to join this race of being channels to bringing others back to him.
May the good Lord instill in us the right spirit and make us true sharers of the gospel by our words and deeds. Amen.
