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Job 19:21-27
Job said:
Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has struck me!
Why do you hound me as though you were divine,
and insatiably prey upon me?
Oh, would that my words were written down!
Would that they were inscribed in a record:
That with an iron chisel and with lead
they were cut in the rock forever!
But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives,
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see:
my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him,
And from my flesh I shall see God;
my inmost being is consumed with longing."
Ps 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14
R./ I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
R./ I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
Your presence, O Lord, I seek.
Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper: cast me not off.
R./ I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
R./ I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
Lk 10:1–12
Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
'Peace to this household.'
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
'The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.'
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you,
go out into the streets and say,
'The dust of your town that clings to our feet,
even that we shake off against you.'
Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand.
I tell you,
it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town."
Saint Francis Borgia
Today we remember Saint Francis Borgia; in the Collect prayer, it says: […] as we celebrate the feast […] teach us to understand that there is nothing in the world comparable to the joy of spending our lives in your service. And the reading from the Gospel of Luke is the account of the mission of the 72.
It may be that parishes, ordinary faithful, and institutes and various Catholic associations sometimes feel overwhelmed by the numerous documents (Vatican, diocesan, parish, etc.) with pastoral plans, strategies for evangelization, programs… We dedicate so much effort to all these «preliminaries» that we have no energy left to put them into practice. The most critical might even say that it would be better to forget about «so much paper» and get to work once and for all.
But let’s not consider these «papers» useless, we need them to a great extent, and the more complex and difficult the social situation, the more so. Jesus, we read in Luke, did not send the seventy-two without more: he provided them with a «guide» with instructions for the case. A guide that provides some clues… First of all, he sends them out two by two, which means that the center of the proclamation is Christ himself, not the leadership ability, eloquence, or persuasion of the one who proclaims. And that it is Christ who moves the community, the incipient Church: the two represent it.
You have to travel light, lest we carry so many things, material or otherwise, that hinder and delay the journey.
A surprising warning that even seems a bit rude: do not greet anyone along the way. But in that historical, geographical, and cultural context, it has an explanation. The greeting did not consist merely of a «good morning» but in a prolonged stop of up to several days.
Stay where you are received and adapt to what is there. That is, accept and embrace their culture, their customs, their unwritten rules… even if the faith in Jesus Christ that you preach leads them to change in certain aspects…
Wherever you are received, heal the sick. That is, the proclamation of salvation must be accompanied by kindness and dedication. If we say that God has given us the mandate to love, we must be consistent.
And be firm and tenacious in the proclamation. If they reject you, perhaps because of the suspicion that you want to take advantage of them, show that you are not going to take even the dust clinging to your feet and make clear the proclamation of the Kingdom that has come for all in Jesus Christ.
Virginia FernándezNothing 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?
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 for ever.
– For missionaries, that they may go to the people to whom they are sent humbly and with a poverty of means, we pray:
– For evangelizers, that they may respectfully discover whatever good there is in the hearts and minds of people and their culture, we pray:
– For the young Churches, that they may be deeply rooted in their own people as communities of faith and love that enrich the whole Church, we pray:
Lord our God,
your Son comes here among us
to give himself to us in the poverty
of an ordinary piece of food.
Make us ready with him,
to live with no other security
than to know that we are in your hands
and that you dispose people to accept
the Good News of your Son through us
if we become poor and available
together with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lord our God,
your Son sent out his disciples
to preach the Good News of salvation
with a disarming poverty of means.
Keep your Church today
from the permanent temptation
of trying to impress people
with riches, power and prestige.
Make it a humble and serving Church
that not only knows what poverty is
but also has the difficult courage to live it
in the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord.
There is a large harvest waiting. The peace of God’s kingdom is to be brought to many. Church, go on your way. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
