Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Fr Dominic’s Homily
We have the beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadeloupe here today. This is one of 220 replicas of the original image commissioned by John Paul 2nd and as such they extend the same blessings and graces as the original image in Mexico City. We heard in today’s talk how she spreads a powerful message around Mexico and around the world.
We also heard how everything relating to the image has meaning and purpose to lead people to God. It has supernatural qualities associated with it which defy scientific research a little bit like the Shroud of Turin.
In the Gospel we hear about Jesus sending out 72 people to spread the message of the kingdom of heaven. And why 72? Was this just a random number of people?
No. Everything Jesus does in his ministry has meaning and purpose. When he sends out 72 he is emulating the Old Testament times when Moses appointed 72 elders to minister to the 12 tribes of Israel.
Remember that Moses was so caught up in everyday duties that he needed help to minister to the people. So he appoints a group of leaders to minister to the great multitude of Israelites in the exodus from Egypt.
You hear some people say these days that
“Of course, Jesus never actually established the Pope, Bishops or Priesthood – it’s all man made nonsense!”
Nothing could be further from the truth. Why? Because here we have it in scripture. This passage is the very origins of the Priesthood by Jesus.
Jesus sends out 72 not just for the 12 tribes of Israel but for all nations of the world. Jesus emulates and fulfils all prophesies of the Old Testament.
He warns that if the message is rejected then those who do not accept this teaching of his risk condemnation. Because by rejecting the teaching of these appointed people they risk rejecting Jesus himself – which in turn means rejecting God the Father.
Jesus tells us that he saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. Because he was there. Remember that Jesus as part of the Trinity has existed for all ages.
So we must listen to the message of Jesus and evaluate it and try to open our hearts to it. This sometimes requires a life changing event as we see in many of the saints.
Now there is a saying “Crisis is the Mother of change. Or Crisis is the Mother of invention”
As you probably know the word Crisis comes from the Greek word meaning decision or turning point. And if you think about it its true isn’t it?
If you look back at your lives perhaps the points at which real change has come about has been due to a real crisis, deadline or decision point in our lives.
That’s part of the reason why we have deadlines for essays that are due in or for projects to be completed by. Because unless we put these into place our human nature is that we will procrastinate and perhaps get distracted by other things…
When we are called to our faith in Christ often there is a crisis point. Our foundations may be rocked a little. Or there is a decision that needs to be taken that we just can’t seem to make!
St Ignatius after living a glamorous life was seriously wounded in a battle. He spent much time in recovery in a city in Pamplona. But the time of convalescence caused him to reassess his whole life.
Failure was being wrought into blessing. Noisy glamour and position in the eyes of the world was being changed to silence and acceptance. This was a turning point in the life of St Ignatius and so many of the saints. Crisis was the mother of change.
Sometimes we need to break a leg to discover God. We need to re-evaluate our relationship with God and with each other. We need to embrace a new way of seeing our lives and reinvent our spiritual selves.
Otherwise there is a danger that we can end up ignoring the beauty of God’s call in our lives.
Let us pray for the gift of being able to hear and accept the message of Christ fully into our hearts so that we see our lives with the eyes of Christ and recognise his beauty, goodness and truth in all around us.