29
Sep
Sep
Reflection: Luke 10: 1-12
The Mission of Jesus was to show the true face of God to the world. He begins his work by forming a community of disciples. They apply a very simple method: to visit homes and begin with a simple greeting: “Peace be to this house!”. Although it appears simple, it is a huge gift, a gift the whole humanity is craving for. It is the gift of peace. The World stands in need of peace and that is exactly what is offered by Jesus. The mission of the seventy-two disciples was to share this gift to the whole world. This early description of the mission journey of the disciples is a reflection of the missionary experience of every Christian in every age: the risen and living Lord sends not only the Twelve, but the whole Church to announce the Gospel to all peoples. Christians have tried to build peace, but not always with the means suggested by the Master who wanted them to be “lambs among wolves.” Sometimes they preferred to resort to force, imposition, and intolerance. They were also immersed in power, like the kings of this world. We have not always walked—poor, meek, defenceless—alongside people in need of peace. We do not always walk like what Francis of Assisi has done —to have his name written in heaven. The messengers are sent in pairs. This indicates that the Gospel is not left to the inventiveness of the individual, but is the work of a community. Who speaks in the name of Christ does not act independently, he or she is in communion with the brothers and sisters in the faith. The first missionaries after the ascension of Jesus —Peter and John (Acts 8:14), Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1)— they paid attention to go two by two, and never alone. In the Mission endeavour, the messengers go first to prepare the hearts of people for Christ. The task given to each apostle is not to represent himself, but to dispose the minds and hearts of the people to accept Christ in their lives. To fulfil this mission, the disciple must prepare himself : “Pray the Lord of the harvest” (v. 2). Pay attention on this one important point: Prayer to the Lord of the harvest is not intended to persuade God to send laborers into His harvest but is intended to transform the disciple into an apostle. Prayer gives him balance, good disposition, inner peace; frees him from pride, presumption. It enables him to overcome opposition, disappointments, and failures; it reveals to him, moment by moment, the will of the “Lord of the harvest.”