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Homily for the fourteenth
Sunday of the Year - Year C - Lk. 10:1-12 & 17-20
by
Canon Dr. Daniel Meynen
" After this the Lord
appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two,
into every town and place where he himself was about to come. And he
said to them, «The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are
few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into
his harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst
of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the
road. Whatever house you enter, first say, «Peace be to this
house!» And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest
upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. And remain in the same
house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves
his wages; do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and
they receive you, eat what is set before you; heal the sick in it and
say to them, «The kingdom of God has come near to you.» But
whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its
streets and say, «Even the dust of your town that clings to our
feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom
of God has come near.» I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on
that day for Sodom than for that town.»
" The seventy returned with
joy, saying, «Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your
name!» And he said to them, «I saw Satan fall like
lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and
nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the
spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in
heaven.» "
Homily:
" After this the Lord
appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two,
into every town and place where he himself was about to come. And he
said to them, «The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are
few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into
his harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst
of wolves.» "
Jesus is the messenger of
the Father: he is the beloved Son, the one in whom the Father put all
his love! Jesus is he who comes to bring to the world all of God's love
for men! For love wants to propagate itself always further and further:
all love - and God is love - is in God from all eternity, but he can
and always wants to pour himself out into the creatures whom he calls
to participation in his own life! And therefore Jesus, who is God, has
no other desire than that of seeing the love of God spread out more and
more across the earth, like a devouring fire: «I came to cast
fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!»
(Lk. 12:49)
In order that the fire of
love may blaze in the hearts of men and women of every race and nation,
Jesus sends his disciples, two by two. The disciples are called to
demonstrate, in every aspect of their lives, the love that they are to
bring to the world: they go out two by two in order to testify to the
unity of the disciples of Christ, they must pray that the Lord calls
other apostles of love, they try to imitate the gentleness of the lamb
who forgives and allows himself to be mistreated by wolves and
ferocious beasts. The disciples of Christ are called to testify to the
love of God in all of their life, and even in their death as well, as
Saint John teaches us: «By this we know love, that he laid down
his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren.» (1 John 3:16)
" «Whenever you enter
a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say,
«Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off
against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come
near.» I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on that day for
Sodom than for that town.» "
The love of God must not
make us forget his justice and his rigor! Let us always remember that
the mercy of God cannot to be separated from his justice. God is
infinitely good, but he is also infinitely just. While he rewards good,
he also punishes evil. The grace of God calls us, it invites us to
follow Jesus in his mission of love throughout the entire world! The
grace of God is powerful, it is the most powerful proof of the love of
God for us, but we have to fear that this same grace that is offered to
us today will never again be given to us in order to call us to follow
Christ. We must fear that the grace that we allow to pass by today may
never be offered to us again. The fire of the love of God saves and is
full of mercy, but the fire of the divine justice is destructive like
that which fell upon Sodom!
" «Nevertheless do
not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice
that your names are written in heaven.» "
Saint Paul said it, with
these famous words: «If I have prophetic powers, and understand
all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to
remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.» (1 Cor. 13:2)
Yes! Even though evil spirits would submit to the disciples of Christ,
if these disciples don't have the love of God in them, it would serve
no purpose. There is therefore only one thing that is worthwhile and
for which one must rejoice: «that your names are written in
heaven,» said Jesus. That is to say, we should rejoice for the
gifts which the Lord has given us only insofar as we are assured, by
God's grace, that the Lord is waiting us in heaven.
How can we receive this
assurance from God that our names are written in heaven? Let us read
from the book of Revelation: «To him who conquers I will give
some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new
name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives
it.» (Rev. 2:17) The message is clear: it is the Eucharist, the
hidden manna, that gives us this assurance that God has written our
name in heaven! So let us receive this sacrament with a great love and
with a sincere faith: it is the Lord Jesus who comes into us to fortify
us in his own love! May the Most Holy Virgin Mary help us to accomplish
so great an act!
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