26th Week, Thursday, Oct 3
Job 19:21-27; Lk 10:1-12
Job trusts God; "I will see God with my own eyes."
A poem goes like this: "My dreams for life were laid; my journey mapped and made. The Lord was at my side, to be my friend and guide. And so, I started out. "But then the sky turned dark. The road grew steep and stark. I scarce could travel on. "I turned and cried: 'My Lord! Why the pain; why the plight? Where's the road; where's the light?' "The Lord turned and said: 'My child! Why the fear; why the fret? Where's your heart; where's your faith? I chose this road for you. Just trust and travel on." Mark Link
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Recall a time when we could scarcely travel on. "The more we depend on God, the more dependable he becomes.' Cliff Richards (slightly adapted)
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Nothing can destroy Job's faith in God.
Notwithstanding all his suffering, he knows that God lives and is his Redeemer. Job remains convinced that God does not want to crush people.
Few people are impressed by the fact that a bishop lives a life of poverty in a big palace or that priests or sisters are sober and restrained in their personal lives when they use rich and powerful means and institutions to bring God to people. Missionaries, however dedicated and serving they may be, are not very convincing and have a hard time building community if they import powerful means from outside. When Jesus sends out his missionaries to evangelize the poor, he wants them to be, like him, poor among the poor. True, evangelical poverty is an ideal that is not easy to attain. But does it still move us?
Do you understand?
The Gospel of today narrates the appointment of the "other 72" who were called to go ahead of the Lord to prepare the soil - to prepare the hearts of the people - so that they might be ready to receive the Gospel of salvation.
Here are a few things I would like to point out: it is interesting that this evangelizing mission is not only for the apostles but for all disciples of Christ. Our baptism entrusts each of us with the responsibility of proclaiming the Gospel to the world. It is possible that one of the great sins of omission in our church is that we may have forgotten this "commission" and have moved on with our lives as if it had no bearing on our commitment to the Church and our Christian lives.
The task is not easy, “like lambs among wolves,” as the saying goes, but it is our duty. In order to accomplish this mission, a peaceful and compassionate heart is necessary, one that shares the life of the people he or she is sent to, heals the body and mind of those who are sick, and most importantly, one that doesn't hold grudges against those who do not welcome the messengers or the message; the judgement is left to God. Our mission is to welcome rather than alienate, to heal without judging, and to leave behind rather than reproach.
Am I (are we) mission-oriented?
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The Mission
Today's Gospel passage mentions that "the Lord appointed seventy men and sent them out in twos ahead of him into every town and place where he intended to go." The number seventy held symbolic significance for the Jews: it represented the elders chosen to assist Moses in leading and directing the people in the wilderness (Numbers 11:16-17; Numbers 11:24-25), as well as the number of the Sanhedrin, the supreme council of the Jews. This connection suggests that the seventy men were intended to serve as helpers of Jesus in his mission
It's interesting to note that one of the towns where Jesus pronounced woe is Chorazin. It's implied that Jesus did many mighty works there. However, in the gospels, Chorazin is never even mentioned as a place of Jesus’ activity, and we do not know anything about what Jesus did or spoke there. This highlights how much we still have to learn about the life of Jesus. It reminds us that the gospels are not biographies but only glimpses into his life.
This passage highlights some essential guidelines for participating in Jesus' mission: Material possessions should not weigh down the preacher; he should travel lightly and not be entangled in worldly things. The preacher should focus on his mission and not be distracted by trivial matters.
The disciples are sent in twos, which shows that the Gospel is not entrusted to the creativity of an individual but is the result of collective effort. Whoever speaks on behalf of Christ does not act independently but is in unity with fellow believers. The initial evangelists following Jesus' ascension—Peter and John (Acts 8:14), Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1)—made it a point to travel in pairs, never alone.
Praying to the Lord of the harvest is not merely a request for more workers, but a transformative process for the disciple. Prayer provides stability, a positive attitude, and inner peace; it humbles the disciples, helping them conquer opposition, setbacks, and failures. It reveals, step by step, the intentions of the ‘Lord of the harvest,' empowering the disciples and strengthening their spiritual resolve.
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Opening Prayer
Lord our God, you possess nothing because you are everything. In poverty, your own Son was born and lived and died. Make us first aware, Lord, of the poverty of our own heart, that we may be disposed to listen, to expect and to receive with the attitude of those who are poor, and that we may learn to give what we have and what we are, as Jesus did, your Son, who lives with you and with us forever. Amen
