Read Matthew 9:35-10:1,5-8, and pray that the Lord will send out laborers into the harvest. The fields are still full of people who are "harassed and helpless," even here in what is supposedly one of the richest countries in the world.

I sit on the board of Samaritan House Ministries, Inc., an organization which provides a variety of services to disadvantaged people in our area. The most visible of its programs is the food bank, through which people can get a hamper of food every two weeks. It's little enough -- but we assist about 10% of the families in our city each year. There are many people within walking distance of this Cathedral who live in almost third-world conditions, sleeping several to a room, uncertain as to whether they will have food and shelter tomorrow.

This knowledge fills me with -- anger? shame? sorrow? -- all of the above and more!

Jesus called his disciples together to go out and proclaim the good news of the kingdom. That call still comes to us today, as we seek to drive out the demon of poverty.

Don't get me wrong -- that's not the whole mission of the church. But can we rest when another is hungry? Jesus had compassion for the crowds who came to him. We can do no less.

This poem by William Blake is Hymn #544 in Common Praise, the most recent hymn book of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Can I see another's woe,
  and not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another's grief,
  and not seek for kind relief?

Can I see a falling tear,
  and not feel my sorrow's share?
Can a parent see a child weep,
  nor be with sorrow filled?

Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,
  and thy Maker is not by;
think no thou canst weep a tear,
  and thy Maker is not near.

O! God give to us his joy
  that our grief he may destroy:
till our pain and sorrow leave,
  God doth sit by us and grieve.