Isaiah 66:10-14
Psalm 65/66
Galatians 6:14-18
Luke 10:1-12. 17-20
Reflections
Jesus is
on a journey: he resolutely takes the road
for Jerusalem
(Gospel of last Sunday). It is a
missionary and 
communitarian
journey, filled with teachings for the disciples.
Just a little earlier Jesus had sent on the mission his Twelve (Lk
9,1-6). In a
short time Luke (Gospel) tells
of the mission of the 72 disciples: “The Lord appointed
seventy-two
other disciples and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the
towns and
places he himself was to visit” (v. 1). The ‘enrolment document’ and
the
instructions for the two groups of missionaries – the 12 apostles and
the 72
disciples – are practically the same. It surprises, therefore, this
nearness
and repetition, as if to underline the urgency
of Mission.
Who were
those 72 disciples? Here the number is a symbolic number that brings us
to the
totality of mission: 72 (or 70, according to the various texts) was the
number
of peoples of the earth, according to the ‘table
of nations’ (Gn 10:1-32)); of
the same number were the elderly of Israel. Besides, 12 is a
multiple
number of 12, so that it stands to indicate the totality of God’s
people.
Mission, then, is not simply the duty of some (namely the 12), but the
work also of laypeople, that is, of all. In these numbers we
see a
message of universality of mission, in its origin, extension and
recipients.
The
instructions are manifold and equally important, in the style of the
new
mission that Jesus has launched. Since then, his instructions are
forever valid,
whether addressed to us or to future evangelisers.
- “He
sent them out” (v. 1): the initiative of the call and of the
sending
belongs to God, the master of the harvest; the readiness to answer
belongs to
the disciples.
- “in
pairs”: in small groups; it is necessary to be in communion
with at
least another person for a credible witness. This is how Peter and John
went
(Ac 3-4; 8:14); and also Barnabas and Saul who were sent by the
community of
Antioch (Ac 13:1-4). The proclamation of the Gospel is not left to
solitary
inventiveness, but it is the work of a community of believers: even if
this is
really small, as in the case of parents, the first educators in the
faith of
their children. The commitment to announce the
Gospel together with others
is not just a question of greater effectiveness, but the fact that,
doing it
together, it expresses communion and is a guarantee of the Lord’s
presence:
“For where two or three are present, I shall be there with them” (Mt
18:20).
- He sent
them out “ahead of him”…: they are bearers of someone else’s
message;
they are not the owners or the protagonists, they are the forerunners
of
Someone who is more important, who will come later, for whose coming
they must
prepare the minds and hearts of the recipients, who are all over the
face of
the earth.
- “The
harvest is rich but few are the labourers” (v. 2) available.
Today the situation is the same as it was yesterday. The
challenges of mission are partially different according to times and
places but,
as a whole, they are equally demanding. Today, then, the same solutions
Jesus
was proposing in his time are still valid.
- “Ask …
start off …” (v. 2-3): The solution that Jesus offers is
twofold: “Ask … and start off …” (v. 2-3). To
ask: so that we may live the mission
in harmony with the Owner of the harvest, because mission is grace to
be
implored for ourselves and for others. And to
start off: because for every vocation, common or personal, it is
the Lord who loves, calls and sends off. “To ask
and to start off”:
two essential and non-negotiable moments of mission. (*)
- The message
to proclaim is twofold: the gift
of peace (the Shalom) in its most
inclusive biblical
sense, for individuals and families (v. 5); and the
message that “the Kingdom of God
is very near you” (v. 9.11).
The Kingdom
of God is
being made and develops in
history; the Kingdom is first of all a person: Jesus, the fullness of
the
Kingdom. Those who welcome Him find life, joy and mission: and announce
Him to
the entire human family.
- The style
of mission of Christ and of his disciples is the opposite of
the rulers
of the day or of the multinational companies. Mission is not based on the resolve
to rule,
on arrogance and greed (things of wolves:
v. 3), but on a proposal that is humble, respectful, free from human
securities
(purse, sandals, v. 4); it is
attention for the weakest (the sick, v. 9), it is
offered freely,
without looking for a reward (v. 20).
- The
Gospel of Jesus is a message of true life, because it invites
to trust
only in God, who is the father and Mother (1st
Reading);
and to trust in Christ crucified
and risen (2nd Reading)
for the salvation of all.
- The
labourers are few, poor and feeble, facing a vast world; Paul finds
strength
only in the cross of Christ (v. 14)… They are signs
and assurances that the
Kingdom belongs to God, that Mission
is
His.
The Pope's
Words
(*) - “The Church today is in need of
many apostles to
evangelise the world of the new millennium and expects to find
these
evangelisers among you, young men and women” (Lima, Peru,
02.02.1985).
- “Get in
the first line among those who are prepared to leave their own land
for a
mission without frontiers. Through you, Christ wishes to reach
the
whole of humanity”.
John
Paul II
Message
for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 1985
In
the steps of Missionaries
- 4/7: St. Elizabeth of
Portugal
(1271-1336), a Franciscan tertiary who worked for peace and
reconciliation in
her own family and between Portugal and
Spain.
- 6/7: Bl. Maria Teresa
Ledóchowska (1863-1922), who
worked for the liberation of African slaves, and founded the Missionary
Sisters
of St. Peter Claver.
- 6/7: Bl. Nazaria I.
March Mesa (1889-1943), she
migrated from Spain to Mexico,
and was a missionary and foundress in Bolivia
and Argentina.
- 7/7: Bl. Peter To Rot
(Papua-New Guinea, 1912-1945),
a married man and catechist, who was killed by the Japanese with a
lethal
injection, towards the end of the Second World War.
- 7/7: Bl. Maria Romero
Meneses (1902-1977), a
Salesian nun in Nicaragua, who spent
her life in
works of charity.
- 9/7: SS. Augustine
Zhao Rong (+1815) and numerous
companions, martyred in China between
1684 and
1930. With their lives and words they bore witness to the Gospel of
Christ.
- 9/7: St. Paolina
(Amabile Visintainer) of the Dying
Heart of Jesus (1865-1942), an Italian who migrated to Brazil,
where she worked in the care of the poor and the sick, and founded an
Institute
of nuns.
- 10/7: Bl. Emanuel
Ruiz and his 10 companions (8
Franciscan missionaries and 3 blood brothers Maronite laypeople),
martyred for
their faith by Muslim people at Damascus (Syria) in 1860.
