PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS

July 7, Wednesday

FOURTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

     Driven by famine, the brothers of Joseph go to Egypt to buy food. Without knowing it, they meet Joseph, now ranking right after Pharaoh in the country.

      Jesus sends out his apostles as healers of the ills of people so that the new era of the kingdom of God can begin. They, and we too, have to be healers in a world that is harsh and pitiless and much in need of healing. Let the forgiveness and compassionate love we receive from God renew this world and make it God’s world and kingdom.

 

First Reading: Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7a,17-24a

When the famine spread throughout Egypt, the people called out in distress to Pharaoh, calling for bread. He told the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Do what he tells you.”

As the famine got worse all over the country, Joseph opened the store-houses and sold emergency supplies to the Egyptians. The famine was very bad. Soon the whole world was coming to buy supplies from Joseph. The famine was bad all over.

So Israel’s sons joined everyone else that was going to Egypt to buy food, for Canaan, too, was hit hard by the famine.

Joseph was running the country; he was the one who gave out rations to all the people. When Joseph’s brothers arrived, they treated him with honor, bowing to him. Joseph recognized them immediately, but treated them as strangers and spoke roughly to them.

Then he threw them into jail for three days.

On the third day, Joseph spoke to them. “Do this and you’ll live. I’m a God-fearing man. If you’re as honest as you say you are, one of your brothers will stay here in jail while the rest of you take the food back to your hungry families. But you have to bring your youngest brother back to me, confirming the truth of your speech—and not one of you will die.” They agreed.

Then they started talking among themselves. “Now we’re paying for what we did to our brother—we saw how terrified he was when he was begging us for mercy. We wouldn’t listen to him and now we’re the ones in trouble.”

Reuben broke in. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t hurt the boy’? But no, you wouldn’t listen. And now we’re paying for his murder.”

Joseph had been using an interpreter, so they didn’t know that Joseph was understanding every word. Joseph turned away from them and cried.

 

Gospel: Matthew 10:1-7

The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives. This is the list of the twelve he sent:

Simon (they called him Peter, or “Rock”),
Andrew, his brother,
James, Zebedee’s son,
John, his brother,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
Thomas,
Matthew, the tax man,
James, son of Alphaeus,
Thaddaeus,
Simon, the Canaanite,
Judas Iscariot (who later turned on him).

Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge:

“Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighbourhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons.

You have been treated generously, so live generously.

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
you let your Son Jesus entrust
his good news of healing and liberation
to simple and weak people.
Make us much more aware, Lord,
that the good news of the kingdom
is fundamentally human,
accessible and easy to understand.
Let this good news grow in us
and transform us deeply
and fill us with the healing love
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

The POWER of the disciple
“By calling the twelve, Jesus gave them power.” They were sent out to liberate the afflicted people from the powers of “unclean spirits.” The unclean spirits are everything that causes and multiplies violence, death, and chaos in our world. What is the power that Jesus confers on them for this seemingly impossible mission? We find the answer in the entire Gospel.

Jesus fills them with the power of love for the enemy, the opponent, the indifferent, the needy. The enemy is confronted not with revenge but with love and forgiveness; the power that generates from turning the other cheek when someone strikes you on your right cheek.

Jesus fills them with the power to live together, to share life, dreams and mission, to walk together two by two, to make friends, to build bridges and tear down walls. It is the power of freedom to love. It is the power to break away from the shackles of structures, possessions, ideologies, countries, races or colour, religions, customs, or any chain that prevents the command of love.

Jesus filled them with the power of humility, simplicity, austerity, poverty; The power of giving and asking for forgiveness, the most effective and safest instrument to disarm stubborn violence.

And he filled them with the rare power of joy, with its contagious, striking and irresistible brilliance …The rare power of breaking and distributing bread and wine at a table of fraternity; the rare power to share the Word of God through parables and simple stories, imbued with the force of truth, capable of changing the lives of people.

The disciples are assured of the rare power of meekness, cordiality and tenderness, capable of seducing and conquering the most hardened heart of a person and transforming it.

Today it is up to us to discover what are the ‘unclean spirits’ of our time, those forces that lead us to arrogance, selfishness and marginalization. The mission of Jesus continues in the Church through us his disciples. With the first twelve, Jesus launched his Mission to conquer the world. Today, the Lord equips us with the powers assured to us throughout the Gospel, and sends us out with the same Mission – to build up his Kingdom.

Obedience to his mission mandate make us today’s missionaries; our response in charity takes us closer to the people of God and our adherence to poverty brings credibility to our life and mission.

 

Video available on Youtube: The POWER of the disciple