From: Matthew 9:32-38
The Dumb Devil
The Need for Good Shepherds
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Commentary:
35. The Second Vatican Council uses this passage when teaching about the
message of Christian charity which the Church should always be spreading:
“Christian charity is extended to all without distinction of race, social condition
or religion, and seeks neither gain nor gratitude. Just as God loves us with a
gratuitous love, so too the faithful, in their charity, should be concerned for man-
kind, loving it with that same love with which God sought man. As Christ went
about all the towns and villages healing every sickness and infirmity, as a sign
that the Kingdom of God had come, so the Church, through its children, joins it-
self with men of every condition, but especially with the poor and afflicted, and
willingly spends herself for them” (”Ad Gentes”, 12).
36. “He had compassion for them”: the Greek verb is very expressive; it means
“He was deeply moved”. Jesus was moved when He saw the people, because
their pastors, instead of guiding them and tending them, led them astray, beha-
ving more like wolves than genuine shepherds of their flock. Jesus sees the
prophecy of Ezekiel 34 as now being fulfilled; in that passage God, through the
prophet, upbraids the false shepherds of Israel and promises to send them the
Messiah to be their new leader.
“If we were consistent with our faith when we looked around us and contemplated
the world and its history, we would be unable to avoid feeling in our own hearts
the same sentiments that filled the heart of our Lord” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is
Passing By”, 133). Reflection on the spiritual needs of the world should lead us
to be tirelessly apostolic.
37-38. After contemplating the crowds neglected by their shepherds, Jesus uses
the image of the harvest to show us that that same crowd is ready to receive the
effects of Redemption: “I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see now the fields are
already white for harvest” (John 4:35). The field of the Jewish people cultivated
by the prophets—most recently by John the Baptist—is full of ripe wheat. In farm
work, the harvest is lost if the farmer does not reap at the right time; down the
centuries the Church feels a similar need to be out harvesting because there is
a big harvest ready to be won.
However, as in the time of Jesus, there is a shortage of laborers. Our Lord tells
us how to deal with this: we should pray to God, the Lord of harvest, to send the
necessary laborers. If a Christian prays hard, it is difficult to imagine his not fee-
ling urged to play his part in this apostolate. In obeying this commandment to
pray for laborers, we should pray especially for there to be no lack of shepherds,
who will be able to equip others with the necessary means of sanctification
needed to back up the apostolate.
In this connection [Pope] Paul VI reminds us: “the responsibility for spreading
the Gospel that saves belongs to everyone—to all who have received it! The mis-
sionary duty concerns the whole body of the Church; in different ways and to
different degrees, it is true, but we must all of us be united in carrying out this
duty. Now let the conscience of every believer ask himself: Have I carried out
my missionary duty? Prayer for the Missions is the first way of fulfilling this
duty” (”Angelus Address”, 23 October 1977).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
Liturgical Colour: White.
First reading |
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Genesis 32:23-33 © |
Responsorial Psalm |
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Psalm 16(17):1-3,6-8 © |
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ep1:17,18 |
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Or | Jn10:14 |
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Gospel | Matthew 9:32-37 © |
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