The readings last Sunday give us a picture of God’s closeness and his loving concern for us.
In the first reading God describes His love for us as that of a mother for her son:
Like a son comforted by his mother will I comfort you.
As we think of God’s love for us as that of a mother, we think of Our Lady and Her love for us. Her love for us is evident especially at Shrines such as Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje and through the Marian Movement of Priests. Mary helps us to stay close to her Divine Son. The gift of Our Lady to us as Spiritual Mother is another way in which God loves and cares for us. Praying the Holy Rosary is a beautiful way to return that love to Our Lady and through prayer our hearts are purified.
St Paul in the second reading lays much emphasis on the Cross, because it is through the Cross that we are saved and it is the greatest proof of God’s love for us. Jesus suffered unheard of agonies during the Passion to ransom us from slavery to evil, open Heaven to us and ultimately to bring the Kingdom of the Divine Will, lost by Adam and Eve, back upon the earth. His love and mercy are without limits.
Few saints in history have experienced the stigmata or wounds of Christ, but Biblical Scholars believe that St Paul may have been the first. This can be interpreted from the passage in today’s reading:
The marks on my body are those of Jesus.
Other great saints with the visible stigmata include St Francis of Assisi and St Padre Pio.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends out the seventy-two disciples on a mission. The disciples are seen in tradition to represent the ministry of Priests, who assist their Bishops. The first Bishops of the Church were the Apostles. The seventy-two were sent out to preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. Their first words upon entering a house were to be: Peace to this house. Those whose hearts are open and cooperate with God’s grace will experience peace, but those who harden their hearts will not experience inner peace. Every time we meet God in prayer, we should have more peace afterwards and we should feel uplifted. If we don’t experience more peace and enthusiasm, this suggests that we are not meeting God at a deep level in prayer and we need to review how we pray. There is a saying:
The soul that lifts itself in prayer, lifts the world up.
In fact, through prayer so many calamities and wars which would have caused widespread destruction in the world are averted. Prayer and offering up our sufferings holds back the hand of divine justice. If we are prayerful, we will experience peace, and we can spread this peace to those around us.
When Jesus sent out the seventy-two, He also prepared them for the rejection of their message by some. He told them when rejected just shake off the dust from their feet and move on to the next town. People have freewill to either accept or reject Jesus’ offer of peace. All grace comes from Christ through Our Lady, Mediatrix of Grace.
St Therese of Lisieux’s favourite passage in the Scriptures was the passage in today’s first reading: Like a son comforted by his mother will I comfort you. She learnt to depend totally on God, like a child. She developed that childlike simplicity through emptying herself of her ego. St Teresa of Calcutta had that gift too. She would smile and sing while bandaging the foul and festering wounds of dying lepers. She knew her name was written in Heaven. Jesus urges us to pray for vocations. A young man once came to St Teresa in Calcutta and expressed his frustration at all the problems in the world. He told her: I’m only one person and the world is in a mess, what can I do? She answered: Pick up a broom. It is no good sitting back and complaining, we should be proactive by praying more and reaching out to others to lead them to God. In 2007 in New York, someone reported a burst water pipe in a house in a densely populated neighbourhood. The police came and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. But they could hear the TV blaring inside. They kept knocking, but still no answer, so they forced their way in. They went into the living room and there in front of the TV was the mummified remains of the resident, Vincenzo, who had been dead for more than one year in front of the TV. He lived in a crowded area, but no one had visited him for more than a year. Sadly, this story is not so uncommon, a lot of people live alone and if they are not involved in a Parish or in the community and have no close family they have few if any friends. This is why we all need to take every opportunity to reach out like the seventy-two and work in the corner of the vineyard where God has placed us to build up the Kingdom of God and prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of the Divine Will upon the earth. This will coincide with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the Eucharistic Reign. Praise be Jesus Christ and His Holy Will, now and forever!