Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
God of power and mercy,
only with your help
can we offer you fitting service and praise.
May we live the faith we profess
and trust your promise of eternal life.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel reading - Luke 14,12-14
Jesus said to his host, 'When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relations or rich neighbours, in case they invite you back and so repay you. No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when the upright rise again.'
3) Reflection
• The Gospel today continues to present the teaching which Jesus was giving about different themes, all related to the cure in the environment of a banquet: a cure during a meal (Lk 14, 1-6); an advice not to take the first places (Lk 14, 7-12); advice to invite the excluded (Lk 14, 12-14). This organization of the words of Jesus around a determinate word, for example, table or banquet, helps one to perceive the method used by the first Christians to keep the words of Jesus in their memory.
• Luke 14, 12: Interested invitation. Jesus is eating in the house of a Pharisee who has invited him (Lk 14, 1). The invitation to share at table is the theme of the teaching of today’s Gospel. There are different types of invitations: the interested invitations for the benefit of oneself and disinterested invitations for the benefit of others. Jesus says: "When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relations or rich neighbours, in case they invite you back and so repay you”. That was the normal custom of the people: to invite friends, brothers and relatives to eat. And nobody would sit at table with unknown persons. They would sit around the table only with persons who were their friends. That was the custom of the Jews. And even now we also act in the same way. Jesus thinks differently and orders to invite unknown people; these were invitations which nobody used to make.
• Luke 14, 13-14: Disinterested invitation. Jesus says. “On the contrary, when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you. So you will be repaid when the upright rise again.” Jesus orders to break the closed circle and asks to invite the excluded: the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. This was not the custom and it is not either today. But Jesus insists: “Invite these persons”. Why? Because in the disinterested invitation, addressed to excluded and marginalized persons, there is a source of happiness: “And then you will be blessed for they have no means to repay you”. This is a strange type of happiness, a diverse happiness! You will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you. It is the happiness that comes from the fact that you have done a gesture totally gratuitous, without asking for anything. Jesus says that this is the happiness which God will give us in the resurrection; the Resurrection which he will give us not only at the end of history, but even now. To act in this way is already a resurrection!
• It is the Kingdom which will be confirmed. The advice which Jesus gives us in the Gospel today recalls the sending out of the seventy-two on the mission of announcing the Kingdom (Lk 10, 1-9). Among the different recommendations given on that occasion, as signs of the presence of the Kingdom, there is: (a) the invitation to the table and (b) the acceptance of the excluded: “Whenever you go into a town, where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you, cure those who are sick and say: the Kingdom of God is very near to you!” (Lk 10, 8-9) Here, in these recommendations, Jesus orders to transgress that norm of legal purity which prevented fraternal living together.
4) Personal questions
• An interested or disinterested invitation: which of these takes place in my life?
• If you invited in a disinterested way, would this cause some difficulties? Which ones?
5) Concluding prayer
Yahweh, my heart is not haughty,
I do not set my sights too high.
I have taken no part in great affairs,
in wonders beyond my scope.
No, I hold myself in quiet and silence,
like a little child in its mother's arms,
like a little child, so I keep myself. (Ps 131,1-2)
On 19 March the episcopal ordination of Fr. Wilmar Santin, O.Carm. was celebrated in the stadium “Ginásio de Esportes Noroestão” of the Brasilian city of Paranavaí, Paraná. Fr Wilmar is a member of the of the Commissariat of Paraná of the Upper German Province and was recently appointed bishop of the Territorial Prelature of Itaituba, in Brazil.
The three consecrating bishops were the Archbishop emeritus of Curitiba, Dom Pedro Fedalto, the bishop of Petrolina Dom Paulo Cardoso, O.Carm., and Dom Edson Taschetto Damian, the bishop of São Gabriel da Cachoeira. In addition, many other bishops concelebrated, including Carmelites Dom Antonio Muniz and Dom João José Costa, as well as many members of the commissariat of Paraná, the provinces of Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, and numerous diocesan priests.
The Prior General, Fr Fernando Millán Romeral and the Prior Provincial of the Upper German Province, Fr Dieter Lankes, O.Carm., both addressed the bishop at the end of the celebration, encouraging him to live his ministry with the gospel spirit of service and with the simplicity of the Carmelite charism.
Ordinary Time
Click here to read the Lectio Divina of the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi
1) Opening prayer
Father,
You show Your almighty power
in Your mercy and forgiveness.
Continue to fill us with Your gifts of love.
Help us to hurry towards the eternal life You promise
and come to share in the joys of Your kingdom.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 10:13-16
Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, 'Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.' Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
3) Reflection
● The Gospel today continues speaking about the sending out of the seventy-two disciples (Lk 10:1-12). At the end, after sending them out, Jesus speaks about shaking off the dust from their shoes if the missionaries are not welcomed or accepted (Lk 10:10-12). Today's Gospel stressed and extends the threats upon those who refuse to receive the Good News.
● Luke 10:13-14: “Alas for you, Corazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida!” The space which Jesus traveled or covered in the three years of His missionary life was small. It measured only a few square kilometers along the Sea of Galilee around the cities of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Corazin. Precisely in this very small space Jesus works the majority of His miracles and presents His discourses. He has come to save the whole of humanity, and He hardly went out of the limited space of His land. Tragically, Jesus had to see that the people of those cities do not want to accept the message of the Kingdom and are not converted. The cities fixed themselves in the rigidity of their beliefs, traditions and customs and they do not accept the invitation of Jesus to change life. Alas for you, Corazin; Alas for you Bethsaida! For if the miracle done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes". Jesus compares the two cities with Tyre and Sidon which in the past were unyielding enemies of Israel, ill-treating the people of God. For this reason they were cursed by the prophets: (Isa 23:1; Jer 25:22; 47:4; Ezek 26:3; 27:2; 28:2; Am 1:10). And now Jesus says that these same cities, symbols of all the evil done to the people in the past, would have already converted if so many miracles had been worked in them as in Corazin and in Bethsaida.
● Luke 10:15: “And you Capernaum. Did you want to be raised high as Heaven? You shall be flung down to hell.”Jesus recalls the condemnation which Isaiah, the prophet launched against Babylon. Proud and arrogant, Babylon thought, "I shall scale the heavens; higher than the stars of God I shall set my throne. I shall sit on the Mount of the Assembly far away to the north. I shall climb high above the clouds, I shall rival the Most High" (Isa 14:13-14). That is what it thought! But it completely deceived itself! The contrary happened. The prophet says, "Now you have been flung down to Sheol, into the depths of the abyss!" (Isa 14:15). Jesus compares Capernaum with that terrible Babylon which destroyed the monarchy and the temple and took the people as slaves, from which it never succeeded in recovering. Like Babylon, Capernaum thought it was something important, but it fell into the most profound hell. The Gospel of Matthew compares Capernaum with the city of Sodom, the symbol of the worst perversion, which was destroyed by God's anger (Gen 18:16 to 19: 29). Sodom would have converted if it had seen the miracles which Jesus worked in Capernaum (Mt 11: 23-24). Today, the same paradox continues to exist. Many of us, Catholics since we were children, have such consolidated convictions that nobody is capable of converting us. And in some places, Christianity, instead of being a source of change and of conversion, has become the refuge of the most reactionary forces of politics of the country.
● Luke 10:16: "Anyone who listens to you listens to Me; anyone who rejects you rejects Me. And those who reject Me reject the One who has sent Me". This statement places the accent on the identification of the disciples with Jesus, in so far as He is despised by the authority. In Matthew the same saying of Jesus, placed in another context, underlines the identification of the disciples with Jesus accepted by the people (Mt 10:40). In both cases, the disciples identify themselves with Jesus in the total gift and in this gift is realized their encounter with God, and God allows Himself to be found by those who seek Him.
4) Personal questions
● Do my city and my country deserve the warning of Jesus against Capernaum, Corazin and Bethsaida?
● How do I identify myself with Jesus?
● What does it mean to “listen to Jesus” or to “reject Jesus”? Is listening just a passive activity? By using this term in opposition to the term “reject”, it has meaning as “accept”. To accept something is active, a conversion. Do I merely listen, or do I act?
● What does it mean to “listen to Jesus” or to “reject Jesus”? Do I act on what I hear? Do I hear all of what is said, or just the parts that suit me, as many do? To say “I believe!” is a start. Do I treat it as the end of my part?
● What does it mean to “listen to Jesus” or to “reject Jesus”? One cannot see the whole person, much less the deeper meanings driving a person, by just looking at a moment here and there, or a quote here and there. There has to be effort in getting to know the whole person, and the motivations and drives beneath what one sees. It has to form a coherent picture and not a collection of disjointed fragments. Do I listen to all of Jesus, His life, His meaning, His story, His intent, His mission, His intersection with my life, and search for the cohesive picture that puts all of His parables and quotes and actions into what I should “listen” to? Or do I pick those things that suit me and aren't too challenging and convince myself I don't need to listen further?
5) Concluding prayer
Protect me, O God, in You is my refuge.
To Yahweh I say,
'You are my Lord, my happiness is in none.'
My birthright, my cup is Yahweh;
You, You alone, hold my lot secure. (Ps 16:1-2, 5)
1) Opening prayer
Father,
guide us, as you guide creation
according to your law of love.
May we love one another
and come to perfection
in the eternal life prepared for us.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 8,19-21
Jesus’ mother and his brothers came looking for him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd.
He was told, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.’ But he said in answer, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.’
3) Reflection
• The Gospel today presents the episode in which the relatives of Jesus and also his Mother want to speak with him, but Jesus does not pay attention to them. Jesus had problems with his family. Sometimes the family helps one to live the Gospel and to participate in the community. Other times, the family prevents this. This is what happened to Jesus and this is what happens to us.
• Luke 8, 19-20: The family looks for Jesus. The relatives reach the house where Jesus was staying. Probably, they had come from Nazareth. From there to Capernaum the distance is about 40 kilometres. His Mother was with them. Probably, they did not enter because there were many people, but they sent somebody to tell him: “Your Mother and your brothers are outside and want to see you”. According to the Gospel of Mark, the relatives do not want to see Jesus, they want to take him back home (Mk 3, 32). They thought that Jesus had lost his head (Mk 3, 21). Probably, they were afraid, because according to what history says, the Romans watched very closely all that he did, in one way or other, with the people (cf. Ac 5, 36-39). In Nazareth, up on the mountains he would have been safer than in Capernaum.
• Luke 8, 21: The response of Jesus. The reaction of Jesus is clear: “My mother and my brothers are those who listen to the Word of God and put it into practice”. In Mark the reaction of Jesus is more concrete. Mark says: Looking around at those who were sitting there he said: “Look, my mother and my brothers! Anyone who does the will of God, he is my brother, sister and mother (Mk 3, 34-35). Jesus extends his family! He does not permit the family to draw him away from the mission: neither the family (Jn 7, 3-6), nor Peter (Mk 8, 33), nor the disciples (Mk 1, 36-38), nor Herod (Lk 13, 32), nor anybody else (Jn 10, 18).
• It is the Word of God which creates a new family around Jesus: “My mother and my brothers are those who listen to the Word of God, and put it into practice.” A good commentary on this episode is what the Gospel of John says in the Prologue: “He was in the world that had come into being through him and the world did not recognize him. He came to his own and his own people did not accept him”. But to those who did accept him he gave them power to become children of God: to those who believed in his name, who were born not from human stock or human desire, or human will, but from God himself. And the Word became flesh, he lived among us; and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1, 10-14). The family, the relatives, do not understand Jesus (Jn 7, 3-5; Mk 3, 21), they do not form part of the new family. Only those who receive the Word, that is, who believe in Jesus, form part of the new family. These are born of God and form part of God’s Family.
• The situation of the family at the time of Jesus. In the time of Jesus, the political social and economic moment or the religious ideology, everything conspired in favour of weakening the central values of the clan, of the community. The concern for the problems of the family prevented persons from being united in the community. Rather, in order that the Kingdom of God could manifest itself anew, in the community life of the people, persons had to go beyond, to pass the narrow limits of the small family and open themselves to the large family, toward the Community. Jesus gives the example. When his own family tried to take hold of him, Jesus reacted and extended the family (Mk 3, 33-35). He created the Community.
• The brothers and the sisters of Jesus. The expression “brothers and sisters of Jesus” causes much polemics among Catholics and Protestants. Basing themselves on this and on other texts, the Protestants say that Jesus had more brothers and sisters and that Mary had more sons! The Catholics say that Mary did not have other sons. What should we think about this? In the first place, both positions: that of the Catholics as well as that of the Protestants, start from the arguments drawn from the Bible and from the Traditions of their respective Churches. Because of this, it is not convenient to discuss on this question with only intellectual arguments. Because here it is a question of the convictions that they have and which have to do with faith and sentiments. The intellectual argument alone does not succeed in changing a conviction of the heart! Rather, it irritates and draws away! And even if I do not agree with the opinion of the other person, I must respect it. In the second place, instead of discussing about texts, both we Catholics and the Protestants, we should unite together to fight in defence of life, created by God, a life totally disfigured by poverty, injustice, by the lack of faith. We should recall some phrase of Jesus: “I have come so that they may have life and life in abundance” (Jn 10, 10). “So that all may be one so that the world will believe that it was you who sent me” (Jn 17, 21). “Do not prevent them! Anyone who is not against us is for us” (Mk 9, 39.40).
4) Personal questions
• Does your family help or make it difficult for you to participate in the Christian community?
• How do you assume your commitment in the Christian community without prejudice for the family or for the community?
5) Concluding Prayer
Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your will,
and I will observe it.
Give me understanding and I will observe your Law,
and keep it wholeheartedly. (Ps 119,33-34)
None of the brothers must lay claim to anything as his own, but you are to possess everything in common; and each is to receive from the Prior - that is from the brother he appoints for the purpose - whatever befits his age and needs. Carmelite Rule 12.
Father of love, source of all blessings,
help me to pass from my old life of sin
to the new life of grace.
Prepare me for the glory of Your Kingdom.
I ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever.
The Gospel here places no words in the mouth of your mother. And you, too, my Jesus speak not a word. Your silence is eloquent. ~ Bl. Titus Brandsma
Father, our source of life,
I reach out with joy to grasp Your hand;
let me walk more readily in Your ways.
Guide me in Your gentle mercy,
for left to myself I cannot do Your Will.
Those who know how to say the canonical hours with those in orders should do so, in the way those holy forefathers of ours laid down, and according to the Church’s approved custom. Carmelite Rule - 11.
Lord, during this Lenten Season,
nourish me with Your Word of life
and make me one
with You in love and prayer.
A 'scientia crucis' can be gained only when one comes to feel the cross radically. The entire sum of human failures can be blotted out by the expiation of the cross. ~ St. Edith Stein
God, heavenly Father,
look upon me and hear my prayer
during this holy Season of Lent.
By the good works You inspire,
help me to discipline my body
and to be renewed in spirit.
"Jesus lavishes his crosses as the most certain mark of his tenderness, for He wills to make you like Him. So why be afraid of not being able to carry the cross without weakening?" ~ Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
God, heavenly Father, look upon me and hear my prayer during this holy Season of Lent. By the good works You inspire, help me to discipline my body and to be renewed in spirit.
Without You I can do nothing. By Your Spirit help me to know what is right and to be eager in doing Your will. Teach me to find new life through penance. Keep me from sin, and help me live by Your commandment of love. God of love, bring me back to You.
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Each of you, to weigh his words in; keep a tight rein on your mouths, lest you should stumble and fall in speech, and your fall be irreparable and prove mortal. Carmelite Rule. 21.
Dear Lord Jesus,
by Your Passion and Resurrection
You brought life to the world.
But the glory of the Resurrection
came only after the sufferings of the Passion.
You laid down Your life willingly
and gave up everything for us.
Your body was broken and fastened to a Cross,
Your clothing became the prize of soldiers,
your blood ebbed slowly but surely away,
and Your Mother was entrusted to the beloved disciple.
"When the soul reaches the stage at which it pays little attention to praise, it pays even less attention to disapproval. Blame strengthens the soul; what's more, it acquires a special and tender love for its persecutors." ~ Saint Teresa of Avila
Lord, teach me to accept all afflictions
after the example You have given.
Let me place my death in Yours
and my weakness in Your abandonment,
Take hold of me with Your love,
that same foolish love that knew no limits,
and let me offer myself to the Father
with You so that I may rise with You to eternal life.
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Almighty and everlasting God,
our source of power and inspiration,
give us strength and joy
in serving you as followers of Christ,
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12: 13-21
A man in the crowd said to him, 'Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.' He said to him, 'My friend, who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?' Then He said to them, 'Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he needs.'
Then He told them a parable, 'There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, "What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops." Then he said, "This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time." But God said to him, "Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?" So it is when someone stores up treasure for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God.'
3) Reflection
● The episode in today’s gospel is found only in the Gospel of Luke and does not have a parallel in the other Gospels. It forms part of the long description of Jesus’ trip from Galilee to Jerusalem (Lk 9: 51 to 19: 28) in which Luke places most of the information which he collected concerning Jesus which is not found in the other three Gospels (cf. Lk 1: 2-3). The gospel today gives the response of Jesus to the person who asked Him to be the mediator in the distribution of an inheritance.
● Luke 12: 13: A request to distribute an inheritance. “One from the crowd told Jesus: Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance”. Up until today, the distribution of an inheritance among the living relatives is always a delicate question and, many times, it is the occasion of disputes and of tensions without end. At that time, the inheritance also had something to do with the identity of the person (1 K 21: 1-3) and with survival (Num 27:1-11; 36:1-12). The greatest problem was the distribution of the land among the sons of the deceased father. If the family was numerous, there was a danger that the inheritance would be divided into small pieces of land which would not have guaranteed survival of all. For this reason, in order to avoid the breaking up or disintegration of the inheritance and to carry on the name of the family, the firstborn or eldest received double of what the other sons received (Dt 21:17. cf. 2Rs 2: 11).
● Luke 12: 14-15: Response of Jesus: attention to greed, to cupidity. “Jesus answers: My friend, who appointed me your judge or the arbitrator of your claims?” In the response of Jesus appears the knowledge which He has of His mission. Jesus does not feel sent by God to respond to the request to be arbitrator between the relatives who argue or quarrel among themselves concerning the distribution of the inheritance. But the request of this man leads Him to the mission to orientate persons, because “Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he needs”. It was part of his mission to clarify the sense of life. The value of life does not consist in having many things, but rather in being rich for God (Lk 12: 21). Because when gain occupies the heart, it does not know how to distribute the inheritance in an equitable way and with peace.
● Luke 12: 16-19: The parable that makes one think on the sense of life. Then Jesus told a parable to help persons to reflect on the sense of life: “There was a rich man who having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself: What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops”. The rich man was very obsessed by the concern of his goods which had increased in an unforeseen way because of an abundant harvest. He thinks only of accumulating in order to guarantee a life without worries. He says: This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them and I will say to my soul: My soul, now you have plenty of good things laid for many years to come, take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time”.
● Luke 12: 20: The first conclusion of the parable. “But God said to him: ‘Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul, and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?” So it is when someone stores up treasures for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God”. Death is an important key to discovering the true sense of life. It makes all things relative, because it shows what perishes and what remains. Anyone who only seeks to have, and forgets to be, loses everything at the hour of death. Here we have a thought which appears very frequently in the books of wisdom: Why accumulate great quantities of goods in this life if you do not know what will become of themand if you do not know what the heirs will do with what you will leave them. (Qo 2: 12.18-19. 21).
● Luke 12: 21: second conclusion of the parable. “So it is with someone who stores up treasures for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God”. How can one become rich for God? Jesus gives several suggestions and advice: Anyone who wants to be first, let him be last (Mt 20: 27; Mk 9: 35; 10: 44); it is better to give than to receive (Ac 20: 35); the greatest is the smallest (Mt 18: 4; 23: 11; Lk 9: 48) he/she who loses his/her life will save it (Mt 10: 39; 16: 25; Mk 8: 35; Lk 9: 24).
4) Personal questions
● The man asked Jesus to help Him in the distribution of his inheritance. And you, what do you ask Jesus in your prayer?
● Consumerism creates needs and awakens in us the desire of gaining. What do you do so as not to be a victim of gain brought about by consumerism?
5) Concluding prayer
Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth,
serve Yahweh with gladness,
come into his presence with songs of joy! (Ps 100: 1-2)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
you show your almighty power
in your mercy and forgiveness.
Continue to fill us with your gifts of love.
Help us to hurry towards the eternal life your promise
and come to share in the joys of your kingdom.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 10:17-24
The seventy-two came back rejoicing. 'Lord,' they said, 'even the devils submit to us when we use your name.'
He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Look, I have given you power to tread down serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice instead that your names are written in heaven.'
Just at this time, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, He said, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it has pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.'
Then turning to his disciples He spoke to them by themselves, 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.'
3) Reflection
• Context. Previously Jesus had sent 72 disciples. They now return from their mission and give an account of it. The proof of the success of their mission is due to the experience of the superiority and supremacy of the name of Jesus in regard to the power of evil. The defeat of Satan coincides with the coming of the Kingdom and the disciples have seen it in their present mission. The diabolical forces have been weakened and the demons have submitted to the power of the name of Jesus. Such a conviction cannot be the foundation of their joy and the enthusiasm of their missionary witness though. Joy has its last root or origin in the fact of being known and loved by God. This does not mean that being protected by God through a relationship with Him always places us in an advantageous situation in the face of the diabolical forces. Here is inserted the mediation of Jesus between God and us: “Look, I have given you power” (v. 19). The power of Jesus is one that makes us experience success in regard to the devil’s power and He protects us. Jesus has been present in the fall of Satan, even if he is not as yet definitively defeated or overcome. Christians are called to hinder and be an obstacle to the power of Satan on earth. They are sure of the victory in spite of the fact that they live in a critical situation. They participate in obtaining victory in the communion of love with Christ even though they may be tried by suffering and death. Just the same, the reason for joy is not in the certainty of coming out unharmed but of being loved by God. The expression of Jesus, “your names are written in heaven” is a witness that being present to the heart of God (memory) guarantees the continuity of our life in eternity. The success of the mission of the disciples is the result of the defeat of Satan. Now the benevolence of the Father is shown (vv. 21-22): the success of the word of Grace in the mission of the seventy two, seen as the design of the Father and in the communion in the resurrection of the Son, begins with this revelation of the benevolence of the Father. The mission becomes a space for the revelation of God’s will in human time. This experience is transmitted by Luke in the context of prayer. It shows on one side the reaction in heaven: “I bless you Father”, (v. 21) and that on earth (vv. 23-24).
• The prayer of rejoicing or exultation. In the prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father, guided by the action of the Spirit, the word “exults” expresses the openness of the Messianic joy and proclaims the goodness of the Father. This is made evident in the little ones, in the poor and in those who have no value because they have accepted the Word transmitted by those sent and thus they have access to the relationship between the Divine Persons of the Trinity. Instead, the wise and the learned, on account of feeling sure, are gratified because of their intellectual and theological competence. But such an attitude prevents them from entering into the dynamism of salvation given by Jesus. The teaching that Luke intends to transmit to individual believers, as well as to the ecclesial communities, may be synthesized as follows: Humility opens to faith. The sufficiency of one’s assurance closes to pardon, to light, to God’s goodness. The prayer of Jesus has its effects on all those who accept this and allow themselves to be wrapped up by the goodness of the Father.
4) Personal questions
• The mission to take the life of God to others implies a lifestyle that is poor and humble. Is your life permeated by the life of God, by the Word of grace that comes from Jesus?
• Do you have trust in God’s call and in his power that asks to be manifested through simplicity, poverty and humility?
5) Concluding Prayer
Lord, you are kind and forgiving,
rich in faithful love for all who call upon you.
Yahweh, hear my prayer,
listen to the sound of my pleading. (Ps 86,5-6)
