Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church 2024

Jesus, God made manifest as teacher and healer as prophesied in the Book of Isaiah in today’s first reading, steps off the page in today’s Gospel for he comes “teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness” (Mt. 9:35). Recently, at a Novitiate Scripture sharing on the widow who put two small coins into the Temple treasury, our aspirant remarked, “How fortunate that woman was to have Jesus looking at her.” Her comment struck me and came to mind when reading the Gospel of today. In this case we could say, “How fortunate that crowd was to have Jesus looking at them.” Moved with pity for the troubled and abandoned crowd, he surprisingly tells his disciples to ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Here we see the marvelous mystery that God’s mercy will be extended through human beings. When he summons the Twelve, he specifically gives them authority to heal. Theologically, we view sickness and disease as the result of sin, although not necessarily the result of personal sin. Yet God uses what is the punishment as also the remedy, for it is in our sickness and weakness that he is drawn to us in compassion, and we reach out to him in our need. It is also what draws and binds us to each other. As his coworkers, when we share in his teaching and healing ministry, we share in the very heart of Jesus, the very heart of God, for our hearts like his are moved with compassion at the suffering we see, and we are filled with gratitude at the mercy we receive.

Christ’s injunction to pray to the master of the harvest to send workers into the harvest is often interpreted by Catholics as an injunction to pray for priestly and religious vocations. This is fair enough since they are certainly workers. The immediate context of the Gospel makes it seem even more restrictive. Since it is the Twelve Jesus calls after saying this, it could be taken as a command to pray for bishops to be like the good St. Ambrose, whom we celebrate today. Yet Jesus’ order seems even broader than this, for we want all of us to be sent out to gather the harvest, all of us to share in Our Lord’s tender and restorative love. Since it is God’s love, only God can give it to us. That is why Our Lord tells us to ask for it for ourselves and for each other. During this Advent may all of us proclaim, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” by our lives. May we cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons, whether this is through sacramental ministry, the ministry of our work, or through our manifest charity. May our own illnesses be healed; what is dead in us, resurrected; what is leprous, cleansed; and our personal demons driven away that we may freely give what has been freely given to us: “the tender compassion of our God” (Lk1:78).