At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them, for they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd. The Church today honors the memory of St. Vincent de Paul, a priest who dedicated himself to ministering to the poor, the unfortunate and the suffering. He not only attended to their spiritual needs but to the material as well. St. Vincent de Paul founded the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) and is also a co-founder of the congregation of the Daughters of Charity. He is the patron saint of charities and missions, a fact that must have somehow played a role in the selection of today’s Gospel reading.
Today’s Gospel passage, sub-titled the Compassion of Jesus, lays the ground for the calling and commissioning of the twelve (cf. Matthew 10:1-15). The commissioning of the twelve is a consequence of the feelings of pity and concern for the people that appears to have overwhelmed Jesus as he made his rounds through the villages and towns. As he went about his ministry, Jesus encountered men and women who were in every kind of need: sick, possessed, hungry, despairing, and lonely. In addition to their physiological needs, these unfortunate sons and daughters of God were pushed to the margins of the society where they were forgotten and often ostracized. Their sheer number must have made Jesus realize that he needed partners if he were to reach all of them. These partners, just like him, were to go out and proclaim the kingdom of God by bringing back into the fold (of the living) these sons and daughters of God who appeared to be without a shepherd (In the Old Testament, the title of shepherd is primarily used to refer to God. To say that a people were without a shepherd was thus to say that they were without God, for God is the giver and sustainer of life). 
A people without God are a people without life, a people who, in the words of Jesus, are abandoned. Consequently, when Jesus says that he has come to give life, this is precisely what he means: he has come to bring back into the fold [of the living] those who might have found themselves placed outside the fold. Those who found themselves outside the fold were numerous, and since Jesus could not reach all of them, he reached out to those who are called by his name to join him in the mission. The twelve whom he commissioned were the first to respond, but they would not be the last ones. Men and women down the centuries have followed in the footsteps of the twelve and have become partners with Jesus in his life-saving mission. St. Vincent de Paul heard the summons from Jesus and responded. Like Jesus, he too was drawn to the plight of the poor and the vulnerable. As Jesus’ partner in mission, his was the proclamation of the advent of God’s kingdom by giving hope to those in despair. His work among the poor and abandoned was his way of saying, together with Jesus, that the kingdom of God had indeed been inaugurated and consequently, the poor were going to hear glad tidings, the captives were going to secure their freedom, the blind were going to recover their sight, and the oppressed were going to be set free. Indeed, it was going to be a year acceptable to all (cf. Luke 4:18-19).