FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Disciples Must Be Missionaries
How many people belong to our Church? Catholics number less than 18% of the world population. Yet Luke says that Jesus tells us today: “The harvest is rich but there are few laborers. Pray to the Lord to send us harvesters.” And then, whom does Jesus send? Not just the leaders, but the disciples too. And where are they sent? To all nations and to all peoples, for they are seventy-two, as many as there were peoples known in those days. And how are they sent? In all humility receiving the people’s hospitality and kindness and proclaiming to them the Kingdom of God. Let us ask Jesus to make us suitable messengers.
First Reading: Isaiah 66:10-14
“Rejoice, Jerusalem,
and all who love her, celebrate!
And all you who have shed tears over her,
join in the happy singing.
You newborns can satisfy yourselves
at her nurturing breasts.
Yes, delight yourselves and drink your fill
at her ample bosom.”
God’s Message:
“I’ll pour robust well-being into her like a river,
the glory of nations like a river in flood.
You’ll nurse at her breasts,
nestle in her bosom,
and be bounced on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so I’ll comfort you.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
You’ll see all this and burst with joy
—you’ll feel ten feet tall—
As it becomes apparent that God is on your side
and against his enemies.
Second Reading: Galatians 6:14-18
For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!
Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.
May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!
Gospel: Luke 10:1-12,17-20
Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge:
“What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.
“On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You’re like lambs in a wolf pack.
“Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.
“Don’t loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way.
“When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself.
“Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town.
“When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’
“When you enter a town and are not received, go out in the street and say, ‘The only thing we got from you is the dirt on our feet, and we’re giving it back. Did you have any idea that God’s kingdom was right on your doorstep?’ Sodom will have it better on Judgment Day than the town that rejects you.
The seventy came back triumphant. “Master, even the demons danced to your tune!”
Jesus said, “I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing.”
Prayer
Our God of peace and joy,
you want all people to live
in your covenant of peace and mercy.
Keep calling your whole Church
and everyone of us
to bring to the world a message of peace
and of restored love and justice.
Disarm us of our fears, and send us
by the power of your Spirit,
so that all may recognize and accept
our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
now and for ever. Amen.
Reflection:
July 3 Sunday XIV
Lk 10:1-12,17-20
A vocation to be peace-makers
Sometimes our world is shaded with a certain melancholy. Today it is more common than ever to make statements like, “any time of the past was better.” And, a more polluted, more troubled future awaits us. Climate change, the depletion of natural resources, pandemics, wars, and clashes between different cultures are all problems that capture our attention and force us, in a way, to be pessimistic. How is it possible to be happy in such a world? As if that were not enough, personal problems are also there: who is free from some kind of conflicts in his family? Who does not feel the danger of illness and death as a sword of Damocles swinging menacingly over his head?
In contrast to this reality, which can sometimes be suffocating, today’s readings speak to us of the joy that comes from being bearers or receivers of the Good News of salvation. We should not think that the world was much better in Jesus’ time. Perhaps pollution was less, but other problems, which are relatively solved today, were much more serious and pressing. Poverty, for example, was rampant among the majority of the population. In that context, Jesus sent the seventy-two disciples, two by two, to preach the Good News, wish everyone peace, be close to the sick and needy, and announce that the Kingdom of God was near.
It is a simple message for the simple people. It is a message that is a cause of joy for both, those who transmit it and those who receive it. As we see in the first reading, the prophet Isaiah exhorts those who listen to him to rejoice because God’s consolation is with them and peace and life.
Today it is we, first and foremost, who are the recipients of that message. Beyond the disasters we may have caused in our world, God continues to offer us life and peace. “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” His word continues to desire peace for us. As we read in the Gospel, it is up to us to choose whether to welcome the peace that comes to us from God or to reject it. But even if we reject it, we must know that the kingdom of God is coming anyway.
But we are also the transmitters of the message. It is the treasure that God has placed in our hands. That is why we glory in Jesus and make him the center of our life. And, with our own life, we proclaim peace and trust that God can recreate life where we have created nothing but death.
Have I ever contributed with my words or actions to create death around me? Should I not be a better bearer of peace? How should I act to be one? What should I change in order, with my life, to announce the good news of the Kingdom to all?