Fourteenth Sunday of the Year: C: July 3, 2022

               THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL

First Reading: Isaiah 66: 10-14

Second Reading: Galatians 6: 14-18

Gospel Reading: Luke 10: 1-12 and 17-20

   * First reading is from the book of Prophet Isaiah. During the Babylonian exile, the people of Israel had to suffer much. Isaiah consoles them in their innumerable sufferings and hardships. He encourages the returned exiles to rebuild the holy city of Jerusalem. Isaiah compares Jerusalem to a mother who nurses her children at her breast - a moving imagery of peace, contentment and love.

   *Second reading is from the letter of St. Paul to Galatians. Paul insists that the Christian life is a new existence: that is, becoming Christ-like in everything. Paul explains to the Christian community at Galatia that though he had to suffer much illness, flogging and stoning, he bears the marks of Christ's passion on his body. For Paul, nothing else matters but to keep Christ crucified ever in mind.

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few                                                           Today's Gospel reading is from St. Luke. Jesus sends his seventy disciples on a mission journey. He instructs them regarding the tough task ahead of them and the tremendous opposition they will face. He also asks them to lead a radical way of life like that of a wandering preacher - one who faces persecutions, homelessness and renunciation of family ties and loss of all material things. They are not to be encumbered with extra luggage of any sort. They are not to spend time on the wayside for the so-called chitchats and small talks. They are not to look for comfortable places of stay. They are to be content with whatever is available and provided by the people. Hence  single-minded devotion to the entrusted task is the hallmark of a disciple of Jesus. Like those disciples, Jesus sends each one of us with the command, 'Be on your way, go into your neighbourhoods, schools and offices, proclaim my peace, heal in my name and make my presence felt wherever you are'. It is up to us to respond wholeheartedly to the call of the Lord. 

"Preach the Gospel everyday, if necessary use words." - St. Francis of Assissi