Saint Juan Diego, Hermit

Title

Go to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel

The New Evangelism

Outline

We love reading passages like those in Isaiah

We like hearing “He will be most gracious to you when you cry out; as soon as he hears he will answer you.”

We love the promise, “No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, And your ears shall hear a word behind you: “This is the way; walk in it,” when you would turn to the right or the left.”

We love the prophecy of prosperity. But they are in a dark context, “The Lord will give you bread in adversity and water in affliction.” And the prosperity comes, “On the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.” In Israel the towers were their towers, so it looks like they are in a hard place when outside the towers and cities the Lord gives agricultural plenty.

The point is that good news and healing is coming to Israel, not to the nations.

And so it is with Jesus

He has been rejected by the shepherds of Israel, who say, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”

But he is coming to his people, “Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.”

Despite their having priests and teachers, i.e. shepherds, “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”

So he calls for sending out laborers, for he is but one and the harvest is great, the harvest among Israel.

Then he calls his twelve (a strange crew indeed, not a learned man among them, no “shepherds” among the Twelve) and sends them out, which is what “apostle” means. And they were to do what Jesus had been doing, or as Hilary of Poitiers said, “Whatever impairment Adam’s body had received from his encounter with Satan, Jesus empowered the disciples to wipe away through their sharing in his power.”

They are to engage in the New Evangelism, so to speak, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Looking for the “nones,” they are among the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Looking for those worshipping money, sex, and power? They are there too. Why not go to the Gentiles? That was for later say the Fathers, but now “they were to avoid the works and lifestyle of the unenlightened Gentiles.” And why not the Samaritans? “They were warned, moreover, not to go into the assemblies of heretics. For heterodoxy does not differ at all from unenlightenment.”

The message in word and deed is “‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Therefore “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.” And lest they get sucked into the worship of mammon and its associated vices, they live simply, demonstrating the provision of God, and do not charge, “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

And so it is today, in the midst of the crumbling of society the true teacher comes

Jesus through Our Lady chose a peasant, Juan Diego, to give the word to the learned, the word that gather a lot of lost sheep.

Jesus called a St Francis and a St Dominic, not to go to the pagans, although St Francis tried, but to the lost sheep of the Church, when the Church was not in good order. Both lived simply and proclaimed without cost.

I am not saying that today the shepherds are as bad as in the days of St Francis or St Dominic (who preached to those who thought they were Christians) or in the days of Charles Borromeo or many others, but our crumbling culture did seem to overwhelm us in the 60’s through the 90’s, the towers crumbled, the liturgy often was slipshod, and Thomas Aquinas was seen as outdated, so the true shepherds themselves are working hard to find true laborers for the harvest.

And we need to remember that even if the great pinnacles of cathedrals fall, Jesus will send out the humble, those close to him, to gather the sheep, whether they be the lambs or the mature sheep and to bring them into the experience of what we have experienced in the presence of Jesus, i.e. the presence of Jesus and the destruction of all the various works of the devil.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 12-9-2023: Saturday of the First Week of Advent

FIRST READING

Isaiah 30:19–21, 23–26

19 Yes, people of Zion, dwelling in Jerusalem,

you shall no longer weep;

He will be most gracious to you when you cry out;

as soon as he hears he will answer you.

20 The Lord will give you bread in adversity

and water in affliction.

No longer will your Teacher hide himself,

but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,

21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you:

“This is the way; walk in it,”

when you would turn to the right or the left.

23 He will give rain for the seed

you sow in the ground,

And the bread that the soil produces

will be rich and abundant.

On that day your cattle will graze

in broad meadows;

24 The oxen and the donkeys that till the ground

will eat silage tossed to them

with shovel and pitchfork.

25 Upon every high mountain and lofty hill

there will be streams of running water.

On the day of the great slaughter,

when the towers fall,

26 The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun,

and the light of the sun will be seven times greater,

like the light of seven days,

On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people

and heals the bruises left by his blows.

Catholic Daily Readings 12-9-2023: Saturday of the First Week of Advent

RESPONSE

Isaiah 30:18d

18 Truly, the LORD is waiting to be gracious to you,

truly, he shall rise to show you mercy;

For the LORD is a God of justice:

happy are all who wait for him!

PSALM

Psalm 147:1–6

1 Hallelujah!

How good to sing praise to our God;

how pleasant to give fitting praise.

2 The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem,

and gathers the dispersed of Israel,

3 Healing the brokenhearted,

and binding up their wounds.

4 He numbers the stars,

and gives to all of them their names.

5 Great is our Lord, vast in power,

with wisdom beyond measure.

6 The LORD gives aid to the poor,

but casts the wicked to the ground.

Catholic Daily Readings 12-9-2023: Saturday of the First Week of Advent

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Isaiah 33:22

22 For the LORD is our judge,

the LORD is our lawgiver,

the LORD is our king;

he it is who will save us.

GOSPEL

Matthew 9:35–10:1, 10:5a, 6–8

35  Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. 36 At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. 37  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; 38 so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

CHAPTER 10

1 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.

5 Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.

6 Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 12-9-2023: Saturday of the First Week of Advent

ON THE SAME DATE | OPTIONAL MEMORIAL

SAINT JUAN DIEGO, HERMIT

YEARS 1 & 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

Catholic Daily Readings 12-9-2023: Saturday of the First Week of Advent

From Saturday of the 1st Week of Advent

First Reading Isaiah 30:19–21, 23–26

Response Isaiah 30:18d

Psalm Psalm 147:1–6

Gospel Acclamation Isaiah 33:22

Gospel Matthew 9:35–10:1, 10:5a, 6–8