HOMILY Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle A June 18, 2023

 HOMILY   Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time  Cycle A    June 18, 2023

In the Gospel we just heard, we are told that “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”  

Now I am not a particularly emotive sort of person.   I am not particularly public about my feelings.  Still, I always find the emotional life of Jesus interesting.  Indeed fascinating.  Jesus, if you read the Gospels carefully, was certainly not a restrained, self-composed, impassible, unfeeling stoic.  Jesus was not the strong, silent type.  Far from it.  The Gospels show Jesus as someone with a vibrant emotional life, feeling things deeply and expressing them fully.  Jesus had a rich emotional life.

          So, in the Gospel today Jesus has a strong emotional reaction.  “At the sight of the crowd, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”   

          I hope that you can in some way identify with Jesus in His emotions, and feel what Jesus feels.  Has your heart ever been moved with pity for others because of their sad and downtrodden state? … If you do identify with Jesus then you should know this feeling.  You should feel what Jesus feels; feeling pity for the victims of natural disasters; for the Ukrainians whose cities and towns are constantly being bombed and destroyed; for the starving people in Sudan; even for the urban Americans in the Northeast who suffered from horrible air quality coming from the Canadian wild fires; as well as people close at hand who are troubled and burdened by illness, poverty, addictions, and all sorts of problems.  There is much reason to feel pity along with Jesus.

          It is interesting to see how various Bible translations render this passage of “because they were troubled and abandoned,”    

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The Orthodox Bible renders this as “they were weary and scattered..”  The NRSV says they were “harassed and helpless…”   The Jerusalem Bible put it “they were harassed and dejected…”   Maybe you can identify a little better with being “harassed and dejected” than with “troubled and abandoned”.   Ever been “harassed and dejected”?  Of course.  We have all been there.  [Just try driving on I 35 and you will experience harassed and dejected.]

          Jesus’ reaction is to tell his disciples – that means you and me – “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”  

          Who is Jesus talking about?  Who are these laborers?    Well, look around you.  We are it.  We, as Christians, as Catholics, as members of St Austin Parish, are called.  And we are not just called to be blessed and fortunate, which we are, but also called to work.  To labor.  To go into the harvest that is abundant and do God’s work. 

          We each have our individual talents that we are to use to assist in the “harvest”.   That certainly may mean prayer.  It may mean donating money.  It may be a call to serve in a liturgical ministry, or to assist with Thursday Outreach or the St Vincent de Paul Society, to serve on the Property Committee, or the Prayer Blanket Ministry, or the Knights of Columbus, or in many other ways in your local school or some civic organization.  Usually not in big, dramatic ways of going to a foreign mission or martyrdom, but each of us using the gifts and opportunities we have been given to serve God’s People, and to build up God’s Kingdom. 

 

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          Let me highlight one very special way one or two of you here today may be called by the master of the harvest, and that is to serve God’s people as a priest, deacon, religious sister or brother. 

Last year the Paulists did not have any ordinations to the priesthood, and only one this year.  This year the Diocese of Austin did not have any ordinations to the priesthood for the first time in decades.

          Brothers and siters, we cannot keep importing priests from the third world.  That is not a sustainable option.  “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, …”  If we want the Paulist Fathers to continue to serve this parish and other parishes around the country we need to pray and work for more vocations.  The seminarians that the Paulists now do have, though small in number, are really fine men.   But they can only be in one place at a time.  We need more.   So please continue to pray for vocations. 

 

          In today’s Gospel we see Jesus get emotional.  May our hearts be touched by the Holy Spirit to be moved with pity for those who are harassed and dejected, and like the Apostles in the Gospel, be sent in mission.  AMEN.