Sunday July 07, 2013
14th Sunday
in Ordinary Time
1ST Reading:
Isaiah 66:10-14;
2ND Reading: Galatians 6:14-18;
Gospel: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 or 10:1-9
The Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place, where he himself was to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to his harvest. Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know.
“Whatever house you enter, first bless them saying: ‘Peace to this house.’ If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. Stay in that house eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.
“When they welcome you in any town, eat what they offer you. Heal the sick who are there and say to them: ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’
“But in any town where you are not welcome, go to the marketplace and proclaim: ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off and leave with you. But know and be sure that the kingdom of God had come to you.’ I tell you that on the Judgment Day it will be better for Sodom than for this town.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The number 72 mentioned in today’s Gospel perfects the number of Jesus’ mission staff. Borrowing the mathematical calculations of St. Augustine, 72 disciples plus 12 apostles equals 84. This number is equivalent to seven sets of twelve disciples. Seven is a perfect number in Jewish numerology. Seven sets of 12 disciples symbolically mean the completion (perfection) of Jesus’ mission staff. In this context, the appointment of 72 disciples completed the staff charged by Jesus to work in the vineyard.
But this symbolic completion has little effect on us today if we do not get involved. When Jesus said “Set off without purse or bag or sandals”, he is also instructing us to put material things in their proper perspective. Those who fail in this regard are bad missionaries for the bad example they set in society. They can even be walking scandals when they become so materialistic.
Jesus has perfected his mission staff before he left this world. By making Jesus’ instructions to his disciples our own we make ourselves part of that perfection working together in the vineyard to hasten the coming of the kingdom where Jesus is Lord forever.—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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