Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 8, 2007 Year: C

Is. 66:10-4; Gal. 6:14-18; Lk. 10:1-12, 17-20

Establish God's reign into our world.

First Reading...

“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her -
that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her consoling breast;’
that you may drink deeply with delight
from her glorious bosom.

For thus says the Lord:
’I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm,
and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
your bodies shall flourish like the grass;
and it shall be known
that the hand of the Lord is with her servants.” [Is. 66:10-4] 

Second Reading...
“May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything!

As for those who will follow this rule - peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.” [Gal. 6:14-18] 

Gospel Reading...
“The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.

He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the lord of the harvest to send out labourers into the harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.

Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.

Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.’

The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ Jesus said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’” [Lk. 10:1-12, 17-20]

Helpful Story:
It was a cold winter’s day that Sunday. The parking lot to the church was filling up quickly. I noticed as I got out of my car fellow church members were whispering among themselves as they walked in the church.

As I got closer I saw a man leaned up against the wall outside the church. He was almost laying down as if he was asleep. He had on a long trench coat that was almost in shreds and a hat topped his head, pulled down so you could not see his face. He wore shoes that looked 30 years old, too small for his feet, with holes all over them, his toes stuck out. I assumed this man was homeless, and asleep, so I walked on by through the doors of the church.

We all prayed for a few minutes, and someone brought up the man laying outside. People snickered and gossiped but no one bothered to ask him to come in, including me. A few moments later the church ceremony began.

We all waited for the Preacher to take his place and to give us the Word, when the doors to the church opened. In came the homeless man walking down the aisle with his head down. People gasped and whispered and made faces.

He made his way down the aisle and up onto the pulpit where he took off his hat and coat. My heart sank. There stood our preacher... he was the “homeless man.”

No one said a word. The preacher took his Bible and laid it on his stand. “Folks, I don’t think I have to tell you what I am preaching about today.” Makes you think, doesn’t it? 

Jesus is sending the 72 with the instructions that they be free and free to preach the good news. They are instructed to be as light as possible, so that they can go as far as they can and as quickly as they could reach and cover as much ground as possible. Well, this is a great task. That is what the church today expects of each individual dedicated to Christ.

In our Gospel today, Jesus gives a specific commission to a group other than the Twelve Apostles.  The Twelve Apostles traditionally have been called the first twelve bishops.  These 72 disciples are known as the first 72 priests.  The number “72” is significant in Biblical history.  It was 72 elders who assist Moses in getting the Jews to the Promised Land, as we read in the Book of Numbers.  There were also 72 members of the Sanhedrin and at the time of Christ’s death, there were 72 nations known to man.

Traditionally, this Gospel is used to preach for an increase in the response to the vocation to the priesthood and religious life.  And while that approach is very much valid, it can also be said that the mandate to spread the Gospel extends to the laity as well - to be collaborators with priests in the work of evangelization.  This is part of why this Gospel should appeal to all of you.

Notice in the Gospel that it is Christ who sends - the 72 don’t commission themselves.  In the same way, it is Christ who sends us forth to spread the Gospel, by our vocation or calling to be Gospel oriented.  We don’t call ourselves to this life.  Rather, we are called, which means that we receive the message to give to others - we simply don’t make it up as we see fit.

Jesus gives the 72 very specific commands:

First, take very little with you and talk to no one along the way.  This suggests an intensity in focus; a sense of urgency that we should have in the apostolate; and a detachment from material goods that we need to maintain if we are to remain faithful to the vocation to spread the Gospel.

Contrast: How many of us can live with little today? How many of us can live with silence at home and in our mind?

Second, offer peace to the home.  These are the words the shepherds heard in the fields outside of Bethlehem at Christmas, “Peace on earth!”  It is the same message that Christ offers on Easter Sunday night in the upper room when He first appears to the Twelve, “Peace be with you.”  It is a message of reconciliation, mercy, healing and friendship with God.

Contrast: How many of us really live in inner peace? Can we offer that peace to others? How often we live in inner turmoil and inner war of competition, jealousy etc? 

Third, eat and drink whatever is set before you.  This means that we should conduct our apostolate with a pure intention.  We ought to do the apostolate, not for what we can get of it, but out of love for God.  It also reminds us to rely on God’s Providence, who will take care of us.

Contrast: Well, this is another thing to contemplate. Are we happy with what is offered to us on table? Or do we want more and never satisfied? This seems the reason why we are unhappy. 

Fourth, cure the sick.  The spiritual and sometimes physical healings that will occur in the apostolate will force people to make a decision about their lives.  We may suffer rejection for being Gospel oriented, this is part of carrying our Cross - to take the risk of being rejected for doing good.

Contrast: Curing the sick by visiting them. They say that when we visit the sick, they are comforted. They are spiritually healed. Do we have time for such a ministry? 

With all of these commands, one may think that all of the regulations that Christ gives would limit the freedom of the 72.  Hardly so.  It is actually obedience that frees the 72 to complete their mission.  The rules don’t bind them - they free them to be who Christ wants them to be and it is in that they find true freedom.

Unfortunately, we often don’t associate freedom and obedience or freedom and responsibility as complementary terms.  We think that if we have to be obedient to another or have to assume responsibility for someone or something, then that puts a limit on our freedom.  Sadly, our understanding of what true freedom means has been deeply perverted. 

In some countries where people don’t enjoy the freedom we enjoy here in our country really feel the pinch of fear. Some families live under a dictatorship like in Afganistan, Iran etc., and so the idea of liberty and freedom are of particular interest to them. This is a topic worthy of our consideration in our families and in our parish at large where we experience a lot of freedom.

These days, it is clear that most people in our surroundings think of their freedom as a freedom from constraint: that is, no one can tell me how to live my life or how I should act, etc.  I am free because I can do whatever I want, where I want and with whomever I want and no one can stop me. This goes against the freedom that the Founding Fathers envisioned and the freedom that the Church understands: for both, true freedom is not merely the capacity to do what one merely wants, but rather, it is so much more - true freedom is the capacity to do what we should.

Freedom is part why we are here this morning.  We are free to worship God and the Mass is the perfect sacrifice.  We owe God our adoration, praise and thanksgiving as a matter of justice to Him just because HE IS GOD and what we do here is merely an anticipation of the eternal banquet we hope to enjoy forever with Him.  Incidentally, that is why the Church has always opposed atheistic communism - it prevents man from worshipping God and it violates the justice we owe Him.  That is why Late Ronald Reagan and late Pope John Paul II opposed communism: it wasn’t just a failed economic system or an overly ambitious political machine seeking expansion: Communism violates the human person’s innate desire to worship God without government intervention.

Freedom - the capacity to do what we ought - is such a great gift and we can and have done many great things with it. Yet, we know how we have abused freedom:

1.  Nations fuel a multibillion pornography industry and export it under the guise of freedom of expression or “art.”

2.  We are aware of the popular media and pop culture export decadence, sensuality, lust and materialism, claiming that we are so free that we don’t have to obey any rules of decency.  Just watch the Emmy’s, the Academy Awards, the Oscar’s not to mention the MTV Music Awards and see how free we claim to be merely because we are supposedly “free” to be lewd. See the “Da Vinci Code” that was so much glorified by so called experts in entertainment field.

3.  When we glorify a woman’s supposed right to choose who gets to live and who gets to die, all in the name of freedom and we maintain legalized abortion in our country.

4.  When we claim that people of the same sex can attempt marriage simply because they claim a freedom to define what marriage is. This sickness is slowly spreading in our country too. 

The irony is that the more we stray from the truth even as we claim freedom, the less free we become, because we actually become slaves to our passions and our sins.  So, knowing the truth is crucial. In other words, if freedom is the capacity to do what we ought, then how do we know what we should do?  We learn what the truth is.  Actually, who the truth is: Jesus, who says I AM the way and the TRUTH and the life.  We don’t get to determine what the TRUTH is.  We receive the TRUTH from our God who reveals it to us in His Son and continues to deepen our understanding through the Son’s bride - the Catholic Church.

The truth is no longer merely a law, but a person - the Lord Jesus, who says I am the way and the truth and the life.  Let us pray today that we and our fellow men will rediscover what true freedom means: a freedom to do what we ought, living in the Truth of Christ, and not merely the freedom to do what we simply prefer.  For, it is only when we live in the Truth, that we will be truly free. We are sent today to proclaim the truth and live it. The disciples came back happy to report the progress to the Lord. Well, we too can be happy when we truly work for God and his kingdom. Praised be Jesus Christ.  Now and forever! Amen. 

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