Saturday, December 5, 2026 — Saturday of the First Week of Advent
Freely you have received; freely give
Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8
Readings of the day: Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26; Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6; Isaiah 33:22; Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8.
The Gospel
Jesus goes around to all the towns and villages, teaching, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd, his heart is moved with pity: the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so he tells his disciples to ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers. He summons the Twelve, gives them authority over unclean spirits, and sends them to the lost sheep of Israel: proclaim that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Reflection
Jesus looks at the crowds and his heart is moved with pity: they are troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. The harvest is great, says St. Jerome, and the few labourers are the want of instructors. St. John Chrysostom shows us that it is a great gift to have the power of rightly preaching, since the Lord tells us we ought to pray for it. And the answer to that prayer begins at once: the Lord gives the Twelve a share in his own power, for, as St. Jerome says, a kind and merciful Lord and Master does not envy his servants and disciples a share in his powers. They are sent to the lost sheep of Israel with a single commission: proclaim the Kingdom, heal, raise, cleanse, cast out. And the rule of the mission is the rule of the gift itself: “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
From the Fathers
“He shews us that it is a great gift that one should have the power of rightly preaching, in that He tells them that they ought to pray for it.”
— St. John Chrysostom, in the Catena Aurea on Matthew 9:36–38
“A kind and merciful Lord and Master does not envy His servants and disciples a share in His powers.”
— St. Jerome, in the Catena Aurea on Matthew 10:1–8
Saint of the day
Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, Abbot (d. 532). Born in Cappadocia, he became a monk in Palestine and founded the Great Lavra of Mar Saba in the desert near Jerusalem, a monastery that still stands today. He defended the true faith against heresy and is honoured as one of the great fathers of monastic life.
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Sources: the day’s readings follow the daily lectionary (USCCB, Lectionary 180). The Gospel text is not reproduced here; read it at the link above. Patristic quotes: Catena Aurea on Matthew 9:36–38 and 10:1–8, compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by John Henry Newman (1841, public domain).