OMELIE / Omelie EN

14 giu 2026

June 14, 2026 - 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

June 14, 2026 - 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

First Reading: Exodus 19:2-6 from Psalm 99; Second Reading: Rom 5:6-11; Gospel: Matthew 9:36-10:8

What is God's concern? Today we have the opportunity to understand it. It is to ensure that people in the world can live in peace, in harmony, even in communion, as brothers. How can God realize such a beautiful dream? He cannot force, he cannot create puppets: he must let them enjoy freedom, otherwise their life would become a prison. He must therefore find people with whom he can begin. Through persevering love, he begins with volunteers to form a small people who, thanks to their smallness, will allow themselves to be guided, instructed, and corrected. This is the people who will be called Israel, formed from the twelve tribes born from the twelve sons of Jacob.

Moses becomes God's spokesman for them, a God who acts like a caring and faithful father. God does not risk speaking to everyone, lest everyone understand what he wants: this would create tensions and discord. He speaks to one person only, Moses, to whom, to be credible, he had given exceptional credentials even before the crossing of the Red Sea, and then during that extraordinary event.

Moses reports that, if the people remain obedient to God's promptings, "you will be my special possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine! You will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." They will call themselves the people of God, so much so that they consider themselves privileged: it is not a privilege, but a mission, to bring about general peace and harmony: God cares about the whole earth! Moses' people must live a holy life, a life of obedience to God's wise words, to thus become an attraction and an example for all other peoples, of every language and religion.

Jesus sees that those people have disappointed God's expectations, and so he begins a new one. The opportunity comes when he sees a crowd resembling lost sheep, with no one to guide and protect them.

He is here precisely for this, but the peoples are many, and he cannot reach them all: indeed, his hour is approaching. He therefore calls twelve men, whom he already knows, upon whom he will base the new foundation. How will he ensure that all those they gather are and feel united, and moreover, interested in all the other peoples becoming one people? They need to know and receive the Father's love, and to learn it, so as to give it in turn.

The harvest is plentiful, he tells them, but there are still few who offer to gather it. He therefore advises the twelve to pray: God can attract others to bring the Word of salvation, but he needs prayer. Prayer unites us to God the Father through desire and will: those who pray will themselves become skilled workers to establish the kingdom of heaven in every corner of the earth.

We join in this prayer, even though we have been distant from God, in need of salvation, forgiveness, and justification, as Saint Paul tells us today. Despite these weaknesses, from our baptism we have been chosen and prepared to bring the saving Word to the whole world, to please God among all nations. For nothing is impossible for his love!

Jesus called the Twelve by name. He wanted them close to him. They too have heard the invitation to pray: this will be their primary task. And now he sends them forth. This first time, they will limit themselves to reaching "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." What will they do? Exactly what he himself did: first of all, preach, that is, announce the official beginning of another kingdom, an alternative to the existing ones. It will be a risky task, because it will arouse jealousy and envy on the part of the current rulers. Without rewards or rewards, they will become the benefactors of their subjects: they will heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and, what no one else does, they will cast out demons.

These are there and they disturb, they cause suffering to those who harbor them within themselves, and to those close to them. How will they cast them out? They will propose to everyone to welcome Jesus: when he is present, they will leave, unable to bear his presence. Even the other tasks, impossible for those who do not have Jesus in their hearts and lives, are not performed by anyone. They will care for the sick, so that they may be healed by invoking the Name of the Lord. The dead, people without relationships, without love, will recover their lives, to serve their brothers. The lepers will be welcomed back as people, not cast out as unclean: they too will realize that they are loved by the Father, and therefore by all his children.

All their labor will be free, just as the Father's love and Jesus' persevering love are free. Free giving is a guarantee of effectiveness. What is free is a gift from God: his gifts, in fact, give life!