Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
1ST WEEK OF ADVENT
Psalter: Week 1 / (White)
St. Ambrose, bishop & doctor
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 147: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6: Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
1st Reading: Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23-26
O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. When you cry, he will listen; when he hears, he will answer.
When the Lord has given you the bread of anguish and the water of distress, he, your teacher will hide no longer. Your own eyes will see him, and your ear will listen to his words behind you: “This is the way, walk in it.”
He will then give rain for the seed you sow and make the harvest abundant from the crops you grow. On that day your cattle will graze in wide pastures. Your beasts of burden will eat silage tossed to them with pitchfork and shovel.
For on the day of the great slaughter, when fortresses fall, streams of water will flow on every mountain and lofty hill.
The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven times greater, like the light of seven days, when Yahweh binds up the wounds of his people and heals the bruises inflicted by his blows.
Gospel: Matthew 9: 35 — 10: 1, 5a, 6-8
Jesus went around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom; and he cured every sickness and disease. When he saw the crowds, he was moved with pity; for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are only few. Ask the master of the harvest to send workers to gather his harvest.” Jesus called his Twelve disciples to him, and gave them authority over unclean spirits,
to drive them out, and to heal every disease and sickness. Jesus sent these Twelve on mission, with the instructions: Go, instead, to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go, and proclaim this message:
The kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. Freely have you received, freely give.”
REFLECTION:
“Be compassionate.”
Today’s Gospel challenges us to overcome apathy and indifference. The pericope speaks of the compassion exercised by Jesus. The word “compassion” comes from Latin, meaning “to suffer with.”
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity or compassion upon seeing the people harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
The Greek verb used is splangchnizomai, meaning “to have compassion” or “to feel what the other person is feeling.” The disciples of Jesus are challenged to feel what other people are feeling lest they become calloused and unconcerned about the reality and people around them. It could be the case, when poverty becomes more severe and life becomes harder and more difficult, that even Jesus’ followers may turn their backs from people in need.
We are disciples because we follow the Lord whose heart, all the time, is filled with compassion.
As Christians, we should never lose our capacity to feel what others, most particularly those who are in dire need, feel. During this season of Advent, let us be more compassionate.
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