In the miracle of today, Jesus shows mercy towards the dumb man. The people were amazed, but not the Pharisees. They accused Jesus of being under the power of satan. They were more interested in confronting Jesus rather than showing mercy towards the dumb and the needy.

They failed to see that Jesus' miracles were signs of the Kingdom where salvation was brought to the poor, needy and oppressed.

The Pharisees were obstinate like the Israelites in the first reading. God spoke through Hosea to the Israelites, because they had given in to idolatry. Their sacrifices were not pleasing to God, and in reality, they had already turned away from God.

The second part of today's Gospel focusses on Jesus' ministry to the disciples. The images of the 'shepherd', sheep and 'harvest' reflect the roles of the disciples of Jesus.

However, very often, we have allowed worldly values to influence our lives, so much so, some leaders were found to have neglected their duties and failed the people. We see this happening even today in many leaders either in the government, organisations or the Church.

How do we respond to such a situation? It is not easy to counter-act against the status quo, but there is one thing we can do. We create some awareness among the people and bring many to pray.