Gospel according to Saint Luke 10:1-12.17-20:
At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”
The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
Eat, Heal and Announce
Luis CASASUS President of the Idente Missionaries
Rome, July 06, 2025 | XIV Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 66: 10-14c; Gal 6: 14-18; Lk 10: 1-12.17-20
If we set out to be modern apostles, sent by Christ despite our smallness, we must heed the advice Christ gave when he personally sent out these 72 disciples: Eat with the people, heal the sick, and proclaim that the Kingdom is near.
In reality, sharing a meal is an opportunity for mutual teaching and for opening our hearts more than we can imagine. Any sensitive person, of any belief or without knowing God, would agree.
I would like to illustrate this with a story with a Buddhist flavor:
In a Zen monastery in the mountains, the disciples gathered every morning to share breakfast in silence, according to tradition. One morning, the young disciple Hoshin noticed that the master Seijun was not present. Thinking that the master was meditating, they served the soup and ate without him.
The next day, the same thing happened. And the next. Hoshin, uneasy, went to see the master.
Master, why don’t you share your meal with us anymore?
Seijun smiled slightly: When the master does not sit at the table, the disciples think they already know how to eat on their own. But when the master does sit down, they remember that eating is also a teaching.
From that day on, Seijun sat down with them again, and the disciples understood that the master’s presence is not only a guide on the path, but also in every daily gesture. Even when lifting a spoon. Seijun himself also learned about human nature with each question from his disciples.
Of course, Jesus is not referring only to sitting at the table, but to sharing the most ordinary daily activities that are not considered spiritually significant, such as household chores, leisure time, or informal conversations about any subject. Christ’s advice to eat with the inhabitants of the house is accompanied by his personal testimony, which not everyone understood when they saw him sitting at table with publicans, sinners, Pharisees… and, of course, with his disciples (…who were no less sinners). There was no lack of opportunities to share food with crowds (Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-38), even if it meant performing a miracle; the gesture of uniting everyone in a meal was more important than urgently solving the problem of hunger.
Without simple coexistence, where trust is built little by little, it is useless to make speeches and give elaborate lessons. Without having shared a time of friendship, one can touch the mind, but not the heart. This explains why the apostle Philip, very inspiringly, leaving aside endless reasoning, invited his unbelieving friend Nathanael: Come and see (Jn 1:46).
I am moved when I hear many people who visit our residences, to spend a few hours or have a meal with us, and see how they sense the presence of God, an atmosphere that cannot be explained solely by the quality of the menu or the liveliness of the conversation.
We can ask ourselves several personal questions:
– Do I allow anyone in my family or community to eat alone because of scheduling difficulties?
– Am I really interested in what happened to my brother at work today?
– Do I try to invite people I meet to spend time with my family or community?
– Do I prefer to work alone in my room, with the door closed, because I find it cooler, warmer, more comfortable, more conducive to concentration?
֍ Incidentally, it is during a meal at the home of Levi the tax collector, the future Saint Matthew, that Jesus declares: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Mt 9: 12).
This brings us to the second piece of advice that Christ gives us today: Heal the sick.
This may seem shocking to us, as we would like to perform miracles and heal those who suffer from arthritis, fever, or toothache. But illness is everything that limits us, that closes us in on ourselves, including some triumphs. We have all known people with profound physical or moral ailments who did not identify with their sufferings or infirmities, and others who were not dazzled by their successes. Christ and his disciples managed to free many people from the chains of suffering, although they did not resolve -nor was that their mission- all the ailments that afflicted their contemporaries.
Those first disciples were rather ignorant and admirably courageous, for they had no direct precursors in their mission, except for the heroic example of the Baptizer. Perhaps that is why the Master emphasizes today: Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Perhaps that is also why he eventually gave them the power to heal certain illnesses, since the mission clearly exceeded their capacity… The same thing happens to us today, but we do not need the power to heal illnesses, because we know the effects of grace, which allows us, with the gifts of the Spirit, to draw close to others to be light and salt.
A chaplain serving on the battlefield came across a young soldier lying in a crater, seriously wounded. He asked him: Would you like me to read something to you from this book, the Bible? The soldier replied: I’m so thirsty that I’d rather have some water. The chaplain hurried to fetch some water. Then the wounded man said: Could you put something under my head? The chaplain took off his coat, rolled it up, and carefully placed it under the man’s head as a pillow. The wounded man said: Now, if you had something to cover me… I’m cold. The chaplain immediately took off his jacket and put it on the wounded man to warm him up.
Then the soldier looked the chaplain straight in the eye and said: If there is anything in that book that makes a man do for another man all that you have done for me, please read it, because I would love to hear it.
This little story confirms that the proclamation of the Kingdom comes after healing people, even if it is at the last moment, even if we are left with the desire to have had another form of “success” with them, or quicker and clearer results. But often we are the only book about Jesus Christ that others can read.
It would be a sign of little prayer not to be aware that our neighbor needs to be healed. It would be a symptom of superficiality, of seeing in him nothing but the arrogance, indifference, impatience, or insensitivity that invade us all in some way. In Jesus’ life there are many moments when he focuses on hidden pain:
* Some friends lowered a paralyzed man from the roof so that Jesus could see him (Mk 2:1-12). Before healing him physically, Jesus says to him: Your sins are forgiven, for He saw beyond the paralysis: He perceived a spiritual need that no one else had noticed.
* In Luke 13:10-17, Christ sees a woman who has been bent over for 18 years. No one had helped her, but He calls her, touches her, and straightens her up. He says she was “bound by Satan,” revealing once again a spiritual dimension to her illness that no one had considered.
* In Mark 10:46-52, we see blind Bartimaeus calling out to Christ in a loud voice. Although the crowd rebukes him for shouting, Jesus stops. He perceives his faith and his desperate cry. He asks him what he wants, and when he hears “let me see again,” He heals him because of his faith. Clearly, Jesus not only sees the damage to the body, but also to the heart.
* Another significant example is that of the Roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-13. This man was a figure of authority in the Roman army, respected and powerful. Despite his status, he humbly approached Jesus to ask for the healing of his sick servant.
֍ Christ makes it clear that the first message to be conveyed is peace, his peace. Not as a greeting or a wish, but as the feeling that the apostles experienced because their names were written in the kingdom of heaven, that is, because they felt that they could do God’s will, despite all their weakness, persecution, and lack of vision. Certainly, that peace is not of this world. As the first reading tells us: Rejoice in Jerusalem (…) I will pour peace upon her like a river.
St. Paul also confirms to us today that this peace makes us feel like “new creatures,” heirs to Christ’s mission: What counts is not circumcision or uncircumcision, but the new creature. May the peace and mercy of God come upon all who follow this rule. The characteristic of a new creature is to feel like a child and a brother. A child of a Father who continues to trust in me and a brother to every person, which leaves us surprised and happy, because it cannot be understood or achieved with the reasons and strength of this world.
Certainly, that peace is stronger than daily setbacks or the temptation to live a mediocre life, to just survive. It allows us to keep looking ahead and be sure that we are forgiven and accompanied by Christ in any tribulation, like the disciples of Emmaus.
A man wrote to a famous rabbi explaining that he was deeply unhappy. The letter read as follows:
I would like you to help me. I wake up every day sad and apprehensive. I cannot concentrate. I find it difficult to pray. I keep the commandments, but I find no spiritual satisfaction. I go to synagogue, but I feel alone. I am beginning to wonder what the meaning of life is. I need help.
The rabbi simply returned the letter. He had made only one change before sending it back.
He had underlined the first word of each sentence. It was always “I”.
This pessimistic outlook seems to constitute the unhappiness of the lonely, modern self today… just like the unhappiness of any other era and culture.
—ooOoo—
What does it mean to ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest? Perhaps the owner is unaware that the harvest is plentiful and the workers few? Or maybe he is reluctant, for some strange reason, to send reinforcements?
These do not seem to be very convincing reasons. Rather, it is a matter of expressing to the Lord our deep desire to collaborate in the harvest, to ensure that nothing (no one) is lost, to assure him of our willingness not to waste a moment, knowing that this will draw others to collaborate in his vineyard. In reality, it is a matter of giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to enlighten our humble witness and impel other souls to serve.
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In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Luis CASASUS
President
