Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

“The Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs.”

Happy Sunday everyone!! I hope you are all blessed. This Sunday’s Gospel seems quite appropriate for myself and the brothers, as we are all off on a bit of a pilgrimage, doing a road-trip in California. In a certain way, the Lord has sent us out, and along the way, we have been blessed to be received into several people’s homes, and been given to eat and drink here in San Francisco, LA and San Diego.

Perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch to see these parallels, but it is certainly easy to identify with the disciples in this passage: called and sent to share the Good News. While us brothers have tried to do that with those we have met along the way, this is truly a calling for each one of us. 

You are called and appointed by the Lord!! He has need of you, and he wants to send you out with others to “every town and place he intends to visit.” But before sending you out, he first calls you to follow him, as he did with his first disciples. In last week’s Gospel, we hear the Lord say to someone directly: “Follow me.” 

This is the path of discipleship, and we are all called to be Jesus’ disciples; his followers. We’re called to spend time with him, as his first disciples asked him: “Lord, where do you stay?” We’re called to abide with the Lord, let him abide in our home, and discover the love that he and the Father have for us. 

Once we have been found by the Lord and his love, he will turn to us as well, and send us out to share this Good News with others. Truly, as the Lord says, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” He has need of you! 

How is the Lord calling you into this relationship with him?

How is he calling you to be his disciple? How is he sending you out as a missionary among the people? 

He will not send you alone. He does send you with “no money bag, no sandals, etc.” Which means he asks you to trust in him, and trust in the Holy Spirit at “work in you, through you, and despite you,” as our beloved Archbishop Perez likes to say. 

May the Lord bless you always, as he blesses us! 

~Patrick