A reflection on Matthew 9:36
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
©️2021 by Gloria M. Chang
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Matthew 9:35-38
The Greek adjectives used to describe the crowds in Matthew 9:36 are eskylmenoi (skinned alive, flayed, mangled) and errimmenoi (thrown away, cast away).
Christ sought the discarded and disfigured,
For they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Dear GMC, thank you for your reflection.
I offer this prayer for vocations to the priesthood: “God Our Father, send workers into your Great Harvest so that the gospel is preached, the poor are served with love, the suffering are comforted, and your people are strengthened by the sacraments. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”
And thank you, GMC, for using your gifts in the body of Christ.
O Lord, our Shepherd,
We are a flock of cast aways
Short term gains we value.
Take our mixed-upmangled minds
Turn our hard hearts to You.
Lovely prayer in poesy!