Verbum Dei UK

Isaiah 66:10-14 . Gal 6:14-18 . Luke 10:1-12 & Luke 10:17-20

MEDITATION:

This Sunday Christ calls us to help in reaping his harvest and in forming his kingdom of peace. Jesus recommends that we ask the Lord of the Harvest to send workers to do the harvesting, but that's a subtle way of asking us to offer ourselves to be sent!

 

It's relevant that Jesus sends them two by two. There's a multitude of places to which to go, but he doesn't send each individual to a different place. Working in community is an inherent part of following Christ. The whole bunch of us Christians in the world should be united - like a family. Our Catholic ('universal') Church tries to achieve that. Do you? I'm glad to be in a community of missionaries, and it's a community within a community within a community which is the Church! It doesn't mean that we should imitate each other, but rather that we respect the nature of each person, and simply connect roles. Everyone has a part to play, but they're parts! Good complex machines are made up of simple parts joined well together. Maybe one has to be alone at times, but there's a communitarian nature that we can always have inside. It will 'blossom' at some stage.

And anyway, we're never away from Jesus: 'He sent them to the places where he himself intended to go' (Lk 10:1+). In other words, we don't want people to listen to what we ourselves think, but rather to open the door of people's minds so that they'll listen to the Word of God. His Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. But do we listen? Prayer is about 'listening' to God more than about rattling off prayers to Him. And it's not like reading a textbook or some cold list of instructions! It's a love story! Isaiah uses the image of a baby breast-feeding!

The appointing of 72 messengers at the beginning of the Gospel today reflects the desire to get divine scripture preached. Part of the Old Testament used to be called the septuagint ('seventy') but it was actually written by 72!  Seemingly the first 5 books of the Bible (Pentateuch) were written by the Jewish scholars called 'the Septuagint'. Also the oldest known Greek translation of the O.T. was referred to as the 'septuagint'. It was translated in Alexandria between 250 and 100 B.C.. In other words, the Word of God doesn't arrive down to us by chance or with a cheap postage stamp!

Christ was willing to be condemned to the Cross in order to convince us. I'm convinced! And if He wants to appoint you today to prepare his welcome in the many hearts where he himself intends going, what will your response be? So let's give thanks ('Eucharist') for the Good News that has made its way down to us in a way that we can understand. And let's offer our lives to help get the message across to others.

Jesus says that he's sending us like lambs among wolves, and that doesn't sound very enticing, but he's our Good Shepherd who guides us with love, even if it means becoming one of us. With joy we'll receive in the communion (comulgate) the 'lamb of God' today.

.......Dara.

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