Today we wear green again at our Sunday Mass for the first time since 15 February! After the long journey of Lent, Eastertide & then the special Sundays of the last 2 weeks – Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi - we return to the Sundays of Ordinary Time which will now take us all the way to the end of November. ‘Ordinary Time’ doesn’t mean ‘dull’ or ‘unimportant’ – it comes from the Latin word ‘ordinalis’ meaning ‘counted’ or ‘ordered’ as there are 33 Sundays outside of the major seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. So we have rejoined ‘Ordinary Time’ on the 11th Sunday. Rather than focusing on a specific period of Jesus’ life, eg his birth or Passion/Resurrection, these 33 weeks lead us through different key moments in his 3 years of public ministry, including his parables, public teaching, miracles and the formation of the disciples. The colour green shows us that this is a time for our own spiritual growth, reflecting on how we live out our faith in our daily lives.

In today’s Gospel we hear how Jesus sends out the 12 disciples on mission for the first time. He sends them because he feels compassion for the people who are like ‘sheep without a shepherd’. He also speaks of a rich harvest with very few labourers ready/able to bring it home. This has often been interpreted in a rather narrow way to refer to a lack of priests/religious, but actually it applies to us all! We all have our part to play – there are corners of the field which only you/I can reach. So Jesus is saying/showing that a key part of our faith is to help others to know God. It is a tragedy when the ‘harvest of souls’ is left lying in the fields.

It is very significant that Jesus calls 12 disciples to this mission – in this he echoes the 12 tribes of Israel. In those days it was the blood of family ties that was so important – now, in this new covenant with Jesus, it will be his own blood which unites us all in a shared mission. The shepherds and harvesters will be called from all nations – the only qualification needed is a readiness to share in Jesus’ compassion and passion for his people.


With blessings & prayers from Fr Richard, Fr Ephrem & all the parish team
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