The harvest is great: Ex 19, Rom 5, and the sending of the twelve in Mt 9-10

**Quotation:**> “Messis quidem multa, operarii autem pauci: rogate ergo Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in messem suam.” (Many are called, but few are chosen: therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.) – Matthew 9:37-38**Text:**The eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A, weaves together three texts focusing on vocation and mission. Exodus 19:2-6a presents the Sinai Covenant: God brought Israel to Himself on wings of eagles, and if they keep the covenant, it will be their treasure—a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Romans 5:6-11 proclaims that Christ died for the ungodly to demonstrate God’s love: reconciled through the death of His Son, we are saved by His life. Matthew 9:36-10:8 recounts Jesus’ compassion for the crowds as sheep without a shepherd, sending the twelve apostles with authority to heal and proclaim the Kingdom. The three readings depict the same movement: God who chooses, who redeems, and who sends those He has chosen into service.**I. First Reading: Exodus 19:2-6a**Israel arrived at Mount Sinai and camped in front of it. God called Moses and said, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I brought you out on wings of eagles” (Exodus 19:4). The image of wings of eagles evokes both tenderness and strength: God carried Israel on His wings like an eagle carries its young. The condition of the covenant is obedience, but the motivation is love: “If you listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasure among all peoples” (v. 5). And the vocation: “You shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (v. 6a). Israel is not called to be a nation among nations but to be a nation for nations: the regal priesthood means mediating between God and the world.**II. Second Reading: Romans 5:6-11**“Christ, when the time had come, died for the ungodly, while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:6). Paul emphasizes God’s unilateral initiative: not our previous conversion or merit, but our weakness and wickedness. “God proves his love for us by the fact that when we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (vv. 7-8). The proof of God’s love is precisely that He did not wait for us to be good. “We are reconciled to God through the death of his Son, and certainly saved through his life” (v. 10). Reconciliation is the starting point, not the end: Christ’s resurrected life is what saves us definitively. “Therefore we glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received reconciliation” (v. 11).**III. Gospel: Matthew 9:36-10:8**Jesus traveled through cities and villages teaching and proclaiming the Good News. “Seeing the crowds, he had compassion on them, for they were weary and worn out like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36). Jesus’ compassion is not a superficial emotion; it is a visceral movement that leads to action. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest” (vv. 37-38). And he took initiative: he called the twelve and gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits and heal every disease and illness. He sent them with specific instructions: “Go and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons. You have received free of charge, give free of charge” (10:7-8). The phrase “give free of charge” defines the style of Christian mission: no transaction, no merit, but the free diffusion of what was freely received.IV. Mary and Compassion for the CrowdsEx 19 presents Israel as a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation”: Mary is the fullest realization of this vocation within the new Israel. As a priestess in the highest sense, she offered the Son to the Father at his Presentation in the Temple and at the foot of the Cross, mediating between sinful humanity and holy God. Rom 5 proclaims that Christ died for the ungodly while we were still weak: tradition sees Mary as the mediator who presents to the Son the weak and sinners he loved to death, not as a redeeming mediator (which belongs only to Christ), but as an intercessory mother. Mt 9 describes Jesus seeing the crowds “weary and worn out like sheep without a shepherd” with compassion; Mary shares this compassion with the Son for the crowds entrusted to her. What Jesus saw and felt about the crowds following him, Mary sees and feels about the crowds of today. The mission of the twelve arises from Jesus’ compassion: Mary’s intercession arises from the same maternal and universal compassion she shares with the Son for all who are “weary and worn out” in today’s world.