Jesus said to the seventy-two disciples, “Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”
Jesus instructs his disciples on how to go out into the world and tell people that the Kingdom of God is at hand for them. He is specific about the austerity of being sent: “no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” And, Jesus says, “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.” These first disciples were sent literally on mission out into the world. Although it’s unlikely I will ever go out the same way as an evangelist, the literal world I face as an evangelist is my family, my church, my coworkers, and with people I happen to meet every day.
Help me understand, Jesus, that when a family member or someone I encounter asks for help, I am literally sent out in the same way you sent out the disciples. I tend to want to take my own aims into that situation, but let me remember “no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” Before helping someone, is it so much for me to say interiorly “Peace to you” and let that peace rest on them? Jesus, you say to me, “I am sending you like lambs among wolves”—that is, among my family, my fellow parishioners, my coworkers, and people I happen to meet every day. In the first reading, Saint Paul says that Alexander the coppersmith strongly resisted his preaching. Despite situations like this, give me the grace, Lord, to see and proclaim the Kingdom of God.
It’s unsettling, Lord, but true to think that I am at times like Alexander the coppersmith, doing wrong and resisting the splendor of your kingdom. For this reason, God, you sent your Son, and in that ocean of mercy my sins are drowned. Thank you, God, for the gift of your mercy! Teach me to be a means of your peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
