“As the Father has sent me, so I send you”

Why did Jesus send the 72 disciples?  In the Gospel of John, Chapter 20, Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” then breaths on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit.”  Like the 72, we are sent by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to announce the reign of God.  What does this mean?  Where God is acknowledged as King there is love, joy, peace, abundance, and harmony.  It is sin that disrupted the plan of God; it was the radical love and obedience of the Son that restored the Reign of God on earth.  This is why we are reconciled to God by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  This is why we come to adoration because Jesus is our way, our truth, and our Life.

We are sent, then, in the name of Jesus to proclaim that in Him we are reconciled to God and the Reign of God is present and powerful.  There was a time when we thought that only priests, sisters, and brothers as missionaries but now we realize that all are missionaries by virtue of their baptism and confirmation.  Like Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit to empower our ministry:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me – to bring glad tidings to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.

Thus, in the Spirit, we reveal the mercy of God to those in need.  We know the Corporal Works of Mercy: to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, to visit the sick and the prisoner. We also know the Spiritual Works of Mercy: counseling, instructing, admonishing, comforting, forgiving, and bearing wrongs.  As my friend and mentor, Pat Millus, says, these are things we do every day – to feed and clothe our children and sit with friends when they are sick; to counsel, instruct, admonish and comfort our family and community members.

When St. Francis of Assisi was called by God to rebuild His church, Francis embraced the call to Gospel simplicity and obedience.  Francis also embraced the Spiritual Works of Mercy when he preached to the people and counseled his brothers in community.  Francis was slow, however, to extend mercy towards lepers because he was disgusted by their disfigurement and wounds.  One day, however,  Francis encountered a leper on the road.  Moved with compassion, Francis embraced the man.  Thereafter, Francis and his community tended to the local leper colony, feeding them and dressing their wounds.  Sometimes, we, too, feel reluctant and awkward to approach someone who is sick, or dying, or grieving.  Yet, it is not what we say or do that matters – it is our presence and our caring that conveys the mercy of God.

Thus, some are called to reveal the mercy of God in foreign lands such as Mission St. James.  All are called to acts of mercy in their own homes, parishes, and civil communities.  In this week when we celebrate U.S. Independence, we recall the words of John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”  The 72 in the Gospel represent us who are called and sent.  Keep in mind the dismissal in the Latin Mass: “Ite missa est – Go, you are sent.”