Soul Food for Sundays

Soul Food for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, 18th June 2023

Reflections 18th June 2023
Matthew 9:36-10:8

The Author: Ronan Barry
calendar_today Date: May 29, 2023 - 2 minutes read

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. (Matthew 9:36)

Today’s Gospel presents Jesus’ worry for his people who are troubled and abandoned. He invites us to pray for people who will work with Him and He calls on people to do this work. It seems to me that He is aware of the enormity of the His mission.

In this era of synodality we are more aware than ever of the calling of everyone in building the Kingdom of God. It is clear from this Gospel that Jesus is inviting us to participate in this Mission. Each of us can be his ambassador of care and love for the people around us and for the wider world.

Each person is called by name into a full life. In St Paul’s writings he reminds us, “I live, yet not I, Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). To become aware of “who we truly are”, the Spirit of God must be fully alive within.

Today we are reminded that to be followers of Jesus, we are called to lived as Jesus lived and respond to the abandoned and troubled. This is not as a duty, but as part of the Spirit of God living through us and in us.  Pope Francis encourages us to “take our Christian calling seriously and commit to live as believers” (@Pontifex)

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous,
teach me to serve you as I should,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and ask not for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your most holy will.

Scouting Prayer attributed to St Ignatius

Photo by Tom Parsons on Unsplash

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Ronan Barry

Ronan is Director of Spiritan Mission Ireland, set up in 2017 to respond, in line with Spiritan charism, to the current context of the Irish Spiritan Province and Church. He was part of the Spiritan education team for over 10 years. He lives with family in Co. Kildare.