Homily Ordinary 11A: We are loved, we are called, we are sent

 Homily for 11^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2026

20260614 – EHS Formation House Namugongo

Introduction

My dear Sisters the readings today tell a beautiful story. In three simple steps, they tell us:

·        First, God loves us and Jesus makes that love visible.

·        Second, Jesus calls laborers to share in that mission of sharing God’s love.

·        Third, the laborers are called to give freely what they have received.

So let us reflect on these three points.

Scripture and Theology

In the first reading, we hear the message that God loves us first, when God speaks to Israel through Moses and tells them:  "You shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people ... a kingdom of priests, a holy nation."

These words are remarkable because they are spoken to a people who have not always been faithful. They have complained in the desert. They have doubted. They have grumbled against Moses and against God.

Yet before God asks anything of them, He reminds them how much He loves them.  God does not begin with commandments. He begins with love. Before Israel is told what to do, she is told who she is, God’s beloved.

The same is true for us. Before you are a sister, a novice, a postulant, or a candidate, you are a beloved daughter of God.  Every vocation begins here, with the realization that God loves you.

Sometimes young people wonder whether they are worthy of a vocation. They wonder whether they are holy enough, generous enough, or capable enough.  But vocation does not begin because we are worthy. It begins because God loves us first, like he first loved Israel.

The greatest miracle in your vocation is not that you chose God. The greatest miracle is that God chose you first.  God loved you enough to choose you.  Every authentic vocation is a response to a love that was already there.  We love because He first loved us.

In the Gospel, we see what that divine love looks like in practice.  Jesus makes God’s love visible in human form.

We heard St. Matthew tell us in the gospel: "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."

Jesus does not simply observe human suffering. He is moved by it.

·        He really sees the sick.

·        He really sees the confused.

·        He really sees the poor.

·        He really sees the sinners.

·        He really sees those who have lost their way.

And His heart is filled with compassion.  This is the heart of God revealed in human flesh. The God who told Israel, "You are my special possession," now walks among His people in Jesus Christ.

To understand what Jesus is doing here, we can look at the difference between sympathy and empathy.  Sympathy says, "I feel sorry for you."  Empathy says, "I feel sorry with you. I enter into your experience. I try to understand what you are carrying." Jesus does exactly that and more. He not only feels sorry for the crowds. He does not simply understand their suffering. He enters into it. He takes it upon Himself. He becomes one of us. He carries our burdens and ultimately gives His life for us on the Cross.

For you as Eucharistic Handmaids, this is especially important.  The One whom you adore in the Blessed Sacrament is this same Jesus whose heart was moved with pity for the crowds.  The Eucharist is not merely Christ's presence. It is the presence of the compassionate Shepherd who continues to love His people.  The more closely we draw near to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, the more we learn to love as He loves, to not merely sympathise with their problems, but empathise with them and try to find solutions to them.

That is why after seeing the crowds, Jesus moves to the second step.  He calls people to help him attend to the crowds. He says: "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few."  Notice that Jesus does not say the harvest is small.  The harvest is abundant. The problem is not that there are no souls to save. The problem is that there are too few laborers.

Then Jesus immediately begins calling the Twelve Apostles and sending them out. In other words, He tells them to pray for laborers and then He makes them the answer to that prayer.

God has always worked through human instruments. He could have evangelized the world directly. Instead He called Moses. He called the prophets. He called the Apostles. He called the saints.

The Twelve were not extraordinary men. They were ordinary men with weaknesses and limitations.  Yet Christ entrusted them with His mission. The same remains true today. The Lord does not necessarily call the most talented or the most capable. Rather, He takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things through them. A vocation is not saying, "Lord, I am capable." A vocation is saying, "Lord, I am available."

Yet we should notice something else. Jesus does not call the Twelve to privilege. He calls them to service. The Apostles are not chosen so that others may serve them. They are chosen so that they may serve others. This is an important lesson for every priest, religious, and candidate.

One of the great temptations in every vocation is gradually to shift the focus from Christ's mission to ourselves. We can begin with great generosity and enthusiasm. But over time we may begin asking different questions. Instead of asking, "What does Christ need from me?" we begin asking, "What do I want for myself?" Instead of asking, "How can I serve?" we begin asking, "What can I gain?"  This temptation is not found only in the world. It can enter religious life and priesthood as well.

·        Sometimes we become more concerned about our own comfort than about the mission.

·        Sometimes we become more concerned about our personal interests than about the people entrusted to us.

·        Sometimes we become more concerned about our families than about the family of God.

Of course, we must continue to love our families. Gratitude and filial love remain important virtues. But when we freely embrace a vocation, we freely place Christ and His Kingdom first. The question is not, "What can religious life do for me?" The question is, "How can I give myself more completely to Christ and to His people?"

Jesus concludes His instructions with these words, the third step: "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."

Everything begins as a gift. None of us purchased our faith. None of us earned our baptism. None of us deserved God's mercy. None of us bought our vocation. Everything has been received freely. And because it has been received freely, it must be given freely. The Christian life is not based on calculation. The world teaches us to calculate. What will I get? What will I gain? What is in it for me?

Jesus teaches a different logic.

·        The logic of self-gift.

·        The logic of generosity.

·        The logic of the Cross.

The saints changed the world because they were willing to spend themselves completely. They did not hold back. They poured themselves out for God and for His people.

A religious vocation becomes fruitful not when a sister preserves herself, but when she gives herself away in love and service. The seed bears fruit only when it falls into the earth and dies.

Christian Life

There is one final point. When Jesus speaks about the harvest, we often imagine distant mission territories, parishes, schools, hospitals, and apostolates.  Certainly these are part of the harvest.

But the first harvest may be much closer than we think. For many of you, the first field entrusted to you is your own community. Before we bring strangers to Christ, we must help our sisters come closer to Christ. Before we evangelize the world, we must evangelize our own house. Before we speak about charity, we must practice charity with those who live under the same roof.

·        The harvest begins when a sister encourages another sister who is discouraged.

·        The harvest begins when a candidate patiently bears with the weaknesses of another.

·        The harvest begins when forgiveness is offered after a misunderstanding.

·        The harvest begins when you share Christ’s love with someone who feels lonely, overlooked, or forgotten encounters.

Some of the most important souls God has entrusted to you are sitting beside you in chapel, at table, in recreation, and in the ordinary routines of community life. The Lord is asking you not only to bring people to Christ someday, somewhere else. He is asking you to bring one another to Christ today.

Conclusion

My dear sisters and candidates, today's readings remind us of four great truths.

·        First, God loves us and calls us His special possession; Jesus reveals that love through His compassionate heart.

·        Second, He calls laborers to share in His mission.

·        Third, He asks those laborers to give freely because they have freely received.

May the Eucharistic Lord help each of us to remember that we are loved, called, and sent.

May He free us from seeking ourselves and teach us instead to give ourselves generously.

May He help us place His Kingdom before our own interests.

And may He make our communities places where His love is experienced, His compassion is visible, and His harvest is already being gathered.