June 14, 2026: Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 9:36-10:8
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. 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.” Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Reflection
It is touching to sense and feel Jesus’ love and care for the people he sees as he ministers throughout the countryside of Judea. “His heart was moved by pity …” the Gospel tells us. As a human Jesus knows God’s love for him — he has experienced that love first through his relationship with Mary and Joseph as he grew up.
He also knows God’s love from his awareness of the kindness of others, and especially from his times of prayer with his beloved Abba. Because his heart was touched, he acted on his feelings and began to teach his newly chosen apostles how to reach out to others.
At this early time in his ministry, he asked these new teachers to reach out to their neighbors in the house of Israel, hoping that these neighbors would reach out to others and perhaps in the future, the message would be spread “to the ends of the Earth” as Jesus directed at the time of his Ascension.
The last thought within this Gospel reading is particularly poignant – “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” This is an important teaching that must remain within our awareness in this time in which we live.
We have been given so much from Earth, from our Church and our teachers, and from our family and friends. Jesus asks us as he asked his apostles to give daily without counting the cost.
Action
As we live each day this week, remember to give from our hearts. Give love, give healing, give words of comfort, give food to the food pantries, give support to strangers and immigrants, give from our abundance!
