From the responsorial psalm: “Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, his portents, and the judgments he has uttered. Seek always the face of the Lord.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 10:1-7)
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.’”
As he summons the Twelve disciples to carry out his mission, Jesus gives them “authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.” Entrusting to the disciples the preaching of the Gospel, Jesus instructs them in his mission to bring the kingdom of God to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to all people. As Saint John Paul II said in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, “The kingdom of God is not a concept, a doctrine, or a program subject to free interpretation, but it is before all else a person with the face and name of Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the invisible God.” As Jesus accomplished the mission of his Father on earth, so he sends out the disciples to call people to seek repentance, faith, and the will of God.
God, help me understand your kingdom as its mystery unfolds in the past, present, and future of salvation history. The kingdom that is here and now today is fulfilled in the risen Christ and the hope of those who believe in his second coming and the resurrection to eternal life. Give me the grace today to see this profound mystery—the mystery of Christ’s presence—as it breaks through to present reality, through the events of the day, and through the opportunity for me to bring your kingdom to all people as a welcoming and faithful disciple of Christ.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.