| |
|
|
Our Lady of Victory
490 Charles Street
Gatineau, Québec
J8L 2K5
(819)986-3763
olv@videotron.ca
Mass: Sunday 9:00 AM
Thursday 10:00 AM |
|
 |
|
St. Malachy
3889 Route 315
Mayo, Québec
J8L 3Z8
(819)986-3763
olv@videotron.ca
Mass: Saturday 7:00 PM
|
Fr. Albanus’ Reflections on the Sunday Liturgy |
|
| Proclamation of the Good News |
Today’s Liturgy brings us to reflect on the announcement of the Good News. The Good News of the Kingdom of God should be announced in words, deeds and life by all the Baptized. The Prophet Isaiah announces the Good News to the returned Jews from the Babylonian exile. He gives them the message of hope: that the ruined and devastated Jerusalem will take care of and comfort them as a mother comforts her baby. The returned Jews will live in the assurance of God’s promises of love, protection, prosperity and salvation. St. Paul, in the second reading summarizes the Good News as: Jesus’ death on the cross, rather than Jewish heritage or practice of Torah law, brings salvation. Our mission as Christians is to bear witness to the saving power of the cross of Christ through a life of sacrificial, self-giving service. The Gospel narrates the commissioning, by Jesus, of the seventy-two Disciples to preach the good news in towns and villages in preparation for His visit. This is seen as the prophetic fulfillment of the prophecy made by Isaiah in the first reading. Jesus gave His Disciples tips for their missionary journey.
The Disciples are being sent by Jesus to a world yearning for the truth of the Gospel but sadly inhibited for want of evangelizers. He, Jesus, must trust them and depend on the various talents of His followers; He must depend on their understanding and their resolve to get it right. There is a clear urgency about the mission. He is aware of the territory of the mission: the disciples are sent out like lambs in the midst of wolves. They have a radical challenge to leave behind the guarantee of shelter and support and to set off without provisions. They, according to Jesus, can take that risk for the sake of the Kingdom of God. They are charged to lead the radical lifestyle of the wandering preacher who must face homelessness and renunciation of family and property. They are not to be encumbered by other things! What a radical demand to tell a group of Jews travelling in foreign territory that “you must eat and drink what is set before you!” In all this, they must depend on the peace of the kingdom they bring and the hospitality of the strangers who receive them. While the Disciples offer the people something through their teaching and healing, they receive hospitality. Hospitality is not just a social virtue; it is a response to the word of God which seeks to enter. Inhospitality to the Disciples, therefore, is a rejection of the word of God.
The seventy-two return from their mission full of joy at what they had accomplished in the name of Jesus. Jesus counsels them to rejoice not so much because they were able to over-power the evil spirit but because their names are written in heaven. They are privileged for what they are able to behold with their eyes which are not witnessed by kings and the prophets. They also have reason to rejoice for the sublime divine truths revealed to them, a privilege not given to the wise and the learned. This is the source of their joy! For not every time does the mission work. There will be a time of crisis when the disciples can no longer depend on the hospitality of those who yearn for peace. In that time they will have to hold fast to words of God like those in the first reading: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” We all are the disciples of our times. We should avoid giving the counter-witness to Christ through our lives and words.
Happy Sunday!
|
|
|
|
|
