+ Our gospel passage today is St. Matthew's accounting of what we heard St. Luke report about last Sunday: Jesus sending out the disciples (and Apostles) to proclaim that "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Again, these disciples are encouraged to travel lightly, to give what they themselves received without cost, using peace wish as a testing of the environmental climate: if a peaceful person receives your greeting it will go well with them, if not, then it will go easier for Sodom and Gommorrah on the day of judgment than for those consciously belligerent people. Sodom and Gommorrah only stood in the light of the promise of redemption: but the announcement that the Kingdom is at hand means that JESUS HIMSELF IS THE KINGDOM and it is indeed right then and there. Those who consciously deny that fact or make light of it are literally playing with fire and their own eternal destruction!
On the other hand, we hear in the first reading today, from the Prophet Hosea, that God wants very much to turn his blazing wrath away from his erring people, as a child he loved the people of Israel, he does not want to destroy them for their sins; he promises that if any even has the slightest bit of remorse and faith in him, he will not let the flames consume them!
May we today, as every day, continue to consider our lives, our spiritual lives, and continue to turn away from what is sinful and deserving of eternal punishment, and turn to the Life and Light and Love of the Gospel: the Life and Light and Love of God our Father, our Brother and our Friend!
The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel!
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