Monsignor Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel for this Sunday, June 14, 2026, titled: “Jesus sent his twelve apostles with instructions.”

• Exodus 19:2–6: “You shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”

• Psalm 99: “The Lord is our God, and we are his people”

• Romans 5:6-11: “If Christ’s death reconciles us to God, much more will his life reconcile us”

• Saint Matthew 9:36 – 10:8: “Jesus sent his twelve apostles with instructions”

There are moments in our lives when we must stop to question the meaning of our existence. This is how the Lord challenges the people of Israel through Moses, helping them discover the meaning of the events they have lived through from their liberation from Egypt to the moment they find themselves journeying through the desert. They must recognize themselves as a liberated people, loved and guarded by God. They, who felt like a lost people, are now elevated to a kingdom of priests and a holy nation! How easily we too forget our origin and our destiny, as Pope Leo tells us in his recent encyclical. We are not a lost people in the desert of technology and artificial intelligence; we are a magnificent humanity destined to build the city of God.

What contrasts we find between the plans of man and those of God! God loves the multitudes, as Saint Matthew shows us, but he does not want those multitudes to remain formless, anonymous, or powerless. Instead, he transforms them, makes them his chosen people, and carries them on eagles’ wings because they are his special treasure, transforming them into a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. He gives a face, a name, and unique traits to each person forming the crowd in order to love them, protect them, and make them his favored ones. Every single person is worth so much that Christ dies for them and sheds his blood so that they may be saved. This is proof that “Christ loves us because he died for us while we were still sinners.”

When Jesus beheld the state of the crowds, “he felt compassion for them, because they were faint and helpless,” deeply moved within. Compassion is a feeling that frequently appears in the Old Testament, linked to the relationship between a mother and the child in her womb. Much more than just feeling pity, it is an internal upheaval that binds the heart of the one who contemplates to the heart of the one who suffers. To have compassion is to suffer together with our brother or sister, not just to feel sorry for them. Thus Jesus, moved by this visceral love, notices the weariness and dejection of the people who were “like sheep without a shepherd.” This is another Old Testament expression that carries a reproach against the leaders of Israel and recalls the image of God as the sole true shepherd of his people. Since Israel’s religious and political leaders neglected their duties of care and guidance, the people find themselves helpless and exhausted, and Jesus takes up this task. He is the good shepherd who, suffering with a heart of mercy and compassion, places himself at the head of his people and takes over their care to lift them out of their prostration.

How different Jesus’ attitude is from ours! In the face of hunger, He is deeply moved; in the face of hunger, we remain indifferent or even look for our own gain. The situation of our peoples is difficult for the majority: there is hunger, malnutrition, sickness, victims, and need, and no one can remain indifferent. In light of this situation, it is necessary to courageously reaffirm that hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world that actually possesses sufficient production levels, resources, and knowledge to end these tragedies and their consequences. The serious problem is not a shortage of food, but rather poor distribution and economic policies. Sometimes we feel helpless before the magnitude of the situation, and we can fall into the temptation of throwing our hands up. But what happens at the international level and within large corporations is mirrored by us at the domestic and family level when we turn our backs on our brother or sister to pursue our own profit. What does Jesus do? What does he invite us to do?

Specifically, Jesus calls the twelve and “gives them authority,” not to dominate people, but to drive out demons and heal sicknesses and infirmities. These will be the two great tasks of his envoys: to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand and to heal people from everything that introduces evil and suffering into their lives. They will do what they have seen Him do: heal people by making them experience how close God is to their sufferings. This is how one can collaborate with Jesus in his project for the Kingdom of God. In every village they are to do the same: announce the Kingdom to them by sharing the experience they are living with Jesus, and at the same time, heal the sick of the town. They must do everything for free, without charging or begging, receiving in return a place at the table and in the homes of their neighbors. This is the way to build a community in the villages based on values radically different from power, commerce, and patron-client relationships. Until we share our bread with our neighbor, we cannot call them brother or sister. Here, everyone shares what they have: some share their experience of the Kingdom of God and their power to heal; others share their table and their home.

Will there be anyone today who wants to follow Jesus? Peter, James, John, and the other disciples are simple men, with their own problems, families, small businesses, or perhaps slightly larger ones. However, they all grasped Jesus’ new way of living and his proposal for a different world. Today, if we grasp the greatness and wonder of this proposal, there will surely be faithful followers of Jesus. Fighting against the demons of power and ambition, healing the wounds left by a hostile world, announcing to everyone that God is near, and that we can share a common table, remains a wonderful task to which Jesus continues to invite us.

This Sunday, as we discover the face of Jesus before the helpless, where do we stand regarding our vulnerable brothers and sisters, and regarding Jesus’ invitation? With what words and actions do we announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God? What concrete realities open us up to hope? What hinders the arrival of this Kingdom in our midst?

Our God, strength of all who trust in You, help us with your grace, without which our human weakness can do nothing, so that we may faithfully respond to the call of Jesus and contribute our meager strength to the building of the Kingdom. Amen.