11th Sunday OT A-2023 18-06-2023
Exodus 19:2-6 / Romans 5:6-11 / Matthew 9:36; 10:8
Last Friday, we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is also our Parish feast day.
In preparation for the feast day, we had a triduum, in which we had Masses, Devotion to the Sacred Heart and Holy Hour.
We prepared the “Jesus invites” in which there is a petition slip to write our petitions, which are to be offered during the triduum and feast day.
And there was also the “Roses for Jesus”; it is for us to contribute to the roses that will decorate the sanctuary on the feast day.
It was quite a bit of preparation, and there is quite a bit of work involved to get these ready.
The “Jesus invites” were folded by loving hands of the members of our Parish community.
The roses had to be trimmed and arranged within a short period of time to be ready for the feast day.
But in preparing all these for the feast day celebration, we also wondered what the response would be.
This would be the first focused feast day celebration after nearly four years of restrictions.
We sensed that some people have lost the routine and the rhythm of their faith.
We were uncertain whether people were as fervent as they were before the pandemic.
But still, we embarked on the feast day preparations as a means of inviting people to come back to the Church and to renew their faith in God.
And over the triduum and feast day celebrations, God showed us something.
To quote from the words of today's Gospel, God saw that His people were “harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd”.
God wanted His people to come back to Him.
He needed laborers for His harvest, and the harvest is rich indeed.
And over the triduum and feast day, we saw how rich the harvest is.
We saw that the people needed God as they offered up their prayers and petitions.
We don't know what were written in the petitions, but when people took the trouble to write prayers on paper, those are certainly prayers of the heart.
So, despite being harassed and dejected, the people still have faith in God.
Their devotion and their prayers show that they need Jesus as their Shepherd to lead them in the road of life.
And from the offerings of the “Roses for Jesus”, it showed that people want to be part of the Church, and may even want to offer themselves in service to the Lord.
So, over the triduum and feast day celebrations, God has revealed and showed us something.
One of which is that people need God, and they have faith in Him.
And we, as labourers of the harvest, are to help them to come back to the Lord.
We are to pray for them and to pray with them, and to accompany them to come for Mass and for the Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart.
And just as laborers deserve their wages, God will reward us with His blessings.
He will answer our prayers so that our faith in God will be strengthened and deepened.
Then we will be able to witness to others that being labourers in God's harvest is indeed a blessing and a reward.