14th Sunday C
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Jesus sent his disciples on missions both before his passion, death and resurrection and after
that.
After his resurrection he sent them to convert
ALL NATIONS and to baptise them.
Before his Passion -as we have just heard-
he sent them only
to the places he intended to VISIT HIMSELF.
They were to give peace to those who welcomed them, cure the sick and announce that the Kingdom ofHeaven was at hand.
Jesus is asking us, his disciples of today,
to be on a similar mission all our
lives.
We do not have the miraculous powers the disciples were given.
But there is more than one way in which a person can be dead or
blind or deaf or a leper.
If we help some one rise from a spiritual death,
if we help some one hear what the spirit is trying to say to them,
if we help some one see their own true needs and the needs of others,
and if we accept some one who is a leper in the eyes ofthe family or society, we fulfill our niission as disciples.
The great prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
could gi e direction to all of us .
Lord, make ME an instrument of your PEACE,
Where there is hatred, id ME sow LOVE,
Where there is injury, let me PARDON,
Where there is doubt — let ME strengthen FAITH,
Where there is despair — let ME give HOPE,
Where there is darkness — let ME show LIGHT,
And where there is sadness — let ME bring JOY.
The disciples were told to give peace to those who welcomed them.
Let US - first of all - pray for peace in our own hearts.
Not just the peace that comes from the absence of strife,
or the peace that springs from good health, financial security and worldly suc cess.
But let us pray for that peace of Christ that is beyond all understanding.
As we grow richer in that heavenly peace, we become instruments of peace,
and the fulfillment of our mission becomes much easier.
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