Thursday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Missionary And Poor
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. Nothing can destroy the faith of Job in God. Notwithstanding all his suffering, he knows that God lives and is his Redeemer. Job remains convinced that God does not want to crush people.
Gospel. Few people are impressed by the fact that a bishop lives a life of poverty in a big palace or that priests or sisters are sober and restrained in their personal living when they use rich and powerful means and institutions to bring God to people. Missionaries, however dedicated and serving they may be, are not very convincing and have a hard time building community if they import powerful means from outside. When Jesus sends out his missionaries to evangelise the poor, he wants them to be, like him, poor among the poor. True, evangelical poverty is an ideal not easy to attain. But does it still move us?
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
you possess nothing
because you are everything.
In poverty your own Son
was born and lived and died.
Make us first aware, Lord,
of the poverty of our own heart,
that we may be disposed to listen,
to expect and to receive
with the attitude of those who are poor,
and that we may learn to give
what we have and what we are,
as Jesus did, your Son,
who lives with you and with us for ever.
First Reading
Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God’s hand has struck me!
Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never be satisfied with destroying my flesh?
Oh, that my words were written down, or recorded in bronze
with an iron tool, a chisel, or engraved forever on the rock!
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end, he will stand upon the earth.
I will be there behind my skin, and within my flesh, I will see God.
With my own eyes, I will see him— me and not someone else. How my heart yearns!
Responsorial Psalm
R. (13) I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
Your presence, O LORD, I seek.
Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper: cast me not off.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples and sent them, two by two, ahead of him to every town and place where he was to go himself.
He said to them:
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to his harvest.
Set off without a purse, a bag, or sandals, and do not stop at the homes of those you know.
When they welcome you to any town, eat what they offer you.
Heal the sick there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near to you.’
Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet, we wipe off and leave with you. But know for certain that the kingdom of God is near to you.’
I tell you, on the Day of Judgment, it will be better for Sodom than for this town.
Prayers of the Faithful
– For missionaries, that they may go to the people to whom they are sent humbly and with a poverty of means, we pray:
– For evangelizers, that they may respectfully discover whatever good there is in the hearts and minds of people and their culture, we pray:
– For the young Churches, that they may be deeply rooted in their own people as communities of faith and love that enrich the whole Church, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
your Son comes here among us
to give himself to us in the poverty
of an ordinary piece of food.
Make us ready with him,
to live with no other security
than to know that we are in your hands
and that you dispose people to accept
the Good News of your Son through us
if we become poor and available
together with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
your Son sent out his disciples
to preach the Good News of salvation
with a disarming poverty of means.
Keep your Church today
from the permanent temptation
of trying to impress people
with riches, power and prestige.
Make it a humble and serving Church
that not only knows what poverty is
but also has the difficult courage to live it
in the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
There is a large harvest waiting. The peace of God’s kingdom is to be brought to many. Church, go on your way. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Luke 10: 1-12
The Mission
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 that all humanity is craving. 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 disciples' mission journey reflects 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 resorted 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 as Francis of Assisi did —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)—paid attention to going two by two, never alone.
In the Mission endeavour, the messengers go first to prepare people's hearts 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 to this one important point: Prayer to the Lord of the harvest is not intended to persuade God to send labourers into His harvest, but to transform the disciple into an apostle. Prayer gives him balance, good disposition, and inner peace; it frees him from pride and 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.”