Isaiah 66.10-14c | Galatians 6.14-18 | Luke 10.1-12,17-20

We begin the fourteenth week of Ordinary Time with Mother Church. Each week, we deepen our knowledge of the identity and mission of Jesus and the Church in the world.

Today, the evangelist Luke tells us about the missionary sending of seventy-two disciples previously chosen by Jesus and sent two by two to the cities where He Himself was to go. Their objective was to enter the houses to transmit peace to the residents, heal the sick and announce to the people the nearness of the Kingdom of God.

Before giving instructions to the missionaries, Jesus compared the evangelizing mission to a great harvest with few workers, and encouraged the disciples to ask the Father to send missionaries and evangelizers. Jesus advanced His disciples that they would eventually face hostility and rejection, speaking of lambs among wolves.

Missionary disciples were to be characterized by material detachment, simplicity and readiness, trusting in divine providence that would be manifested in the lodging, food and drink offered by generous families.

Jesus gave them the power to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, so that nothing could harm them.

Finally, the evangelist Luke tells us about the return of the evangelizing disciples happy after their mission, emphasizing the obedience of demons because of the Name of Jesus, the fall of Satan, and the joyful reward for missionaries of having their names written in Heaven.

It is important to remember that Jesus Himself is the first missionary, sent personally by the Father to the world. Being a missionary, Jesus wanted His disciples to be missionaries like Him. Thus, missionary spirit is an essential trait of the Church of Jesus, assumed by the first Christian communities. If the Church stopped being missionary, it would be betraying the original inspiration of Jesus. A missionary Church continually renews Itself, It does not stagnate.

Nations, people and families have the right to know Jesus and the Kingdom of God, and to receive peace; and evangelizing disciples have the duty to fulfill the mission that Jesus entrusted to them.

Due to its importance, the Church's missionary activity must be well organized in its preparation, execution and continuity, taking into account human and financial resources.

Let us remember that every baptized person is a missionary, not just nuns and priests. Communities, ministries and movements must strive to involve their members in the missionary dynamics of the Church.

Today the prophet Isaiah speaks to us of the consolation that the Lord would give to the Israelites at the end of the tragic experience of exile in Babylon. The prophet compared the Lord to a mother who nurses her children, who carries them in her arms and caresses them on her knees. Isaiah said that the Lord would make peace flow to Jerusalem like a river.

Christians believe that, through the Messiah Jesus, the Lord consoled His people for their tragic experiences of sin and humiliation. Christians believe in the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, as the Mother who consoles Her children born in the waters of Baptism, nourishing them with the Eucharist and healing them with the Anointing of the Sick.

It is important that missionary disciples proclaim to everyone the consolation that the Lord wishes to give them through Jesus and the Church, so that the Lord's peace may be consolidated in the world.

Today, the Apostle Paul speaks to us in his letter to the Galatians about the importance of Christ and the cross in his life. Because of Christ, the world was crucified for Paul, and Paul was crucified for the world. The Apostle spoke of the new creation through the cross of Christ, through Baptism, which eliminated the differences between Christians coming from Judaism and those coming from paganism, establishing the common dignity of the baptized.

By accepting this norm of Paul, the Israelites would live in peace and mercy. Before saying goodbye, wishing everyone the Grace of Christ, the apostle declared that he bore the marks of Jesus on his body.

The missionary disciple, following the example of Christ and Paul, is a new creation and relates to the world without dependence, with freedom. The evangelizing disciple announces to people the common Christian dignity, which relativizes the differences imposed by cultural and social diversity. Even suffering in his own body the wounds of religious indifference, the missionary disciple announces and bears witness to peace and mercy.

Let us live in the joy of the mission, being Church in the world.