Whilst reflecting on Matthew 9:36-10:8 I listened to the Gospel with my heart, not just my head. My head was telling me this text is about Jesus summoning the twelve and instructing them to go out and minister to a world where people were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. But what was my heart telling me? The call to minister and invite all into God’s kingdom wasn’t just for the twelve. Do we have lost sheep today? Do we have people who are harassed, downhearted, dejected? Too right we do!

When Jesus looked at the crowd his compassion and love were overwhelming. Do I feel even a fraction of love for all those in need today? I’m unsure, but I do know as a baptised Christian, I, too, am a labourer, I, too, am called to harvest. The gospel states the labourers are few, and that is easy to say if we only point to our priests and religious. Given the huge workload many priests must shoulder today I could see them fitting into the harassed group. The chosen twelve were such a mixed bunch. If we were to advertise for an apostle today, they probably would not even get to the interview stage. Yet these are ones Jesus chose, so I can’t shirk my responsibility and make excuses.

I considered those who were sick, a much wider group than those with physical sickness. Then there are those who are like the walking dead, they have lost hope. Who are those with a skin disease? They are those on the outside who are rejected, ostracised because of their gender, their religion or their race. What are the demonic scourges rampant in society today? Am I caught up in trying to have a fashionable contemporary lifestyle at the expense of those who labour for nothing. I’m not saying I  should not try to achieve in life, but I need to think twice about where I am spending time and money. What is the ripple effect of choosing unwisely?

When I listened with my heart I turned to Catholic Social Teaching principles as they offer a way to examine my motives, my choices, my actions. The dignity of the human person is fundamental to Catholic Social Teaching. Is Pope Leo XIV saying anything about social justice? Well, his name Leo is a dead giveaway, echoing  that of Pope Leo XIII and his landmark encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which kicked off the modern application of Catholic Social Teaching. If that wasn’t enough, Leo XIVs first exhortation, Dilexi te (I have loved you), is about Christ’s love for the poor. Many people today are spiritually hungry, particularly the young, who are longing for authentic relationships and guides in life. Leo’s response, “alongside action [is a call to] cultivate prayer, spirituality, and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue as paths of peace and as languages of encounter within traditions and cultures. Throughout the world, it is to be hoped that “every community become a ‘house of peace,’ [through] dialogue, where justice is practiced and forgiveness is cherished.” [1]  In Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, he continues to protect the dignity of the human person in an age of Artificial Intelligence. The encyclical provides a road map for how we should now envisage the world, how we should build a world with this technology in it.