Pastor's Message

 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

      "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest

to send out laborers into his harvest.”  Matthew 9.36

           Next Sunday we celebrate Fathers’ Day. We will dedicate all dads to the Lord, that he may bless them, protect and guide them according to his holy will. Indeed, when God, the Father, sent his Son Jesus into the World to save us, He entrusted him to an earthly father; St Joseph; Who was exemplary, obedient, and generous.

          Fatherhood is a vocation, Pope Francis would write; For men to exist, and are complete and mature, they are to feel the joy of fatherhood. When a man does not have this desire, something is missing in that it is like incomplete life. The Pope gave St. Joseph as the model to all fathers; his great mission was to be a guardian.

          In the first reading, this Sunday, God leads the People of Israel, as a Father, to the foot of Mt. Sinai. He was to constitute them, there, as a people and a Nation, with Him as their King. The Author of the Genesis, reveals to us that they were in the wilderness of sin. If they were to remain faithful, they were to keep their memories alive, in the deeds that the Lord had so far done for them; “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on the eagles’ wings and brought you to myself!”

         If the Israelites remained faithful to the Covenant, they were about to make with the Lord, God promised, they would be his “treasured possession.”

         Israel, however, failed the Lord miserably but He did not give up on them; He had a Mission to complete!

         In the Gospel Reading, Jesus, the fulfillment of the Promise of the Father, sympathizes with the people; they were “harassed and helpless.”

         He sets out to inaugurate the new Israel by choosing his Apostles according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. He sends them to proclaim the Kingdom and console his People; “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.”

          Brothers and sisters, the love and concern of God, for us is unquestionable. He longs for us and pursues us because we are his sons and daughters. St Paul in the 2^nd reading, reminds us, that God did this even when we were unfaithful; while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Let us respond to the beaconing of our Heavenly Father, with even great generosity.

  †