Sometimes our world is shaded with a certain melancholy. Today it is more common than ever to make statements like, “any time of the past was better.” A more polluted, more troubled future awaits us. Climate change, the depletion of natural resources, pandemics, wars, and clashes between different cultures are all problems that capture our attention and force us, in a way, to be pessimistic. How is it possible to be happy in such a world? As if that were not enough, personal problems are also there: who is free from some conflicts in his family? Who does not feel the danger of illness and death as a sword of Damocles swinging menacingly over his head?
In contrast to this reality, which can sometimes be suffocating, today’s readings speak to us of the joy that comes from being bearers or receivers of the Good News of salvation. We should not think that the world was much better in Jesus’ time. Perhaps pollution was less, but other problems, which are relatively solved today, were much more serious and pressing. Poverty, for example, was rampant among the majority of the population. In that context, Jesus sent the seventy-two disciples, two by two, to preach the Good News, wish everyone peace, be close to the sick and needy, and announce that the Kingdom of God was near.
It is a simple message for those who transmit it and those who receive it. As we see in the first reading, the prophet Isaiah exhorts those who listen to him to rejoice because God’s consolation is with them and peace and life.
Today it is we, first and foremost, who are the recipients of that message. Beyond the disasters we may have caused in our world, God continues to offer us life and peace. “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” His word continues to desire peace for us. As we read in the Gospel, it is up to us to choose whether to welcome the peace that comes to us from God or to reject it. Nevertheless, even if we reject it, we must know that the Kingdom of God is coming anyway.
The rabbis said that the people of Israel were a lamb surrounded by seventy wolves (the Gentiles) who wanted to devour them. Jesus applies this comparison to his disciples: they have to behave like lambs. Therefore, they must be vigilant not to be driven by the instincts of wolves, such as anger, greed, resentment, and the desire to dominate and bully. These uncontrolled instincts could lead to actions such as abuse of power, aggression, violence, insults, and lies. The history of the Church confirms that when Christians became wolves, they failed their mission.
The work of evangelisation is to announce the words of Jesus and to accompany them with concrete actions of charity: care for the sick and assistance to the poor (v. 9). With our own life, we proclaim peace and trust that God can recreate life where we have created nothing but death.
For your reflection
Have I ever contributed with my words or actions to create death around me? Should I not be a better bearer of peace? How should I act to be one? What should I change in order, with my life, to announce the good news of the Kingdom to all?
Father Fernando
Armellini SCJ
