MISSIONARY JOURNEY OF THE LORD TO JERUSALEM

TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY- SIXTH WEEK OF THE YEAR ( Luke 9:51-5 The great journey has begun. Jesus looks to Jerusalem the place where He will die. In one translation Jesus “sets His face like flint”. Determined to fulfill what His Father wants.....the Cross is before Him He does not take this journey alone. He brings His disciples. The disciples of Christ must walk with Christ. It is the new exodus. This journey which Jesus begins is the great teaching journey. It is His last chance to tell his followers what it means to walk with Him. We must listen very attentively to His words...make them our own, and remember to have the Cross before our eyes as we listen.
Jesus first meets rejection. The Samaritans refuse to give Him hospitality. James and John are outraged...Jesus reprimands them for their desire for revenge. Things change. These very Samaritans, who James and John wanted to do away with, are those who will become open listeners to the Word after the Resurrection. If rejection had been responded to in the way James and John wanted the Samaritans would not have been given the chance to listen to and respond to the word.
Jesus was patient. He did not like rejection any more than we do. Because He bore it great things happened.

WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY- SIXTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 9:57-62) The radical change Jesus wants from his disciples. Even the ordinary things of life, burying the dead, saying good-bye become challenges to show that we follow Him. Some are called to live these words heroically. But there are the lesser heroes. Those who have not been given the grace to live these words to the highest. They have a home, bury the dead and take care of the ordinary things of life. But they do these things with love, and faith and hope. These lesser heroes will find their sanctity in the daily lives which they are called upon to live.

THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY- SIXTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 10:1-12“I am sending you as lambs in the midst of wolves”. To understand these words we have to go to the prophet Isaiah. In the days of the Messiah a great reconciliation will take place. The lions, lambs, wolves and children will no longer be at odds with one another but will be at peace. When Jesus uses these words in describing how the disciples will go about the world He is saying that they will, in their lives, make present the great reconciliation which will happen in the fullness of time. The mission of the disciple is to bring peace, healing, reconciliation to the broken world with which they come into contact.

FRIDAY OF THE TWENTY- SIXTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 10: 13-16) There two parts to this passage. The first part has to do with being thankful and the second part with identification with Christ.
The first part is a call to reflection. To reflect on the good things, the miracles, which the Lord has worked within us. Sometimes these miracles are hidden under the things which we take for granted.
Is there a greater miracle than life itself. Just to say: I am alive professes a faith in God. To look at the world around us, the moon, sun, stars and be overwhelmed at what we see. I think that the call of this passage is to see in the ordinary things of life the extraordinary.
My life is made up of a million moments of grace. The sunshine, the rain, the cold the heat....it is made up of smiles and tears, hopes and disappointments it is made up of moments of high exhilaration and times of emotional blanks...inside of these ordinary things, these things which I encounter every day I have to see the power and hand of God.
The second part of the passage tells us that the disciple does not speak on his own but with the presence of Christ. When we read and re-read this passage what Christ is telling us is truly an amazing thing. He is saying that the disciple is Christ’s presence to the world. He is saying that as disciples we not only do the work of Christ but at that moment are Christ. There is an identification with Christ to such an extent that the acceptance or rejection of the disciple is also the rejection or acceptance of the Lord.

SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY- SIXTH WEEK OF THE YEAR( Luke 10, 17-24)
Sometimes we can be intimidated by “big things”. Today’s gospel is at once a joy and something to be cautious of. The “big things”, casting out devils, treading on snakes, which the disciples did may give rise to the temptation of either looking for the amazing or worse yet, because I do not accomplish these big things my ministry is not fruitful.
Everyone sent by the Lord and working in His name brings about a change in the world. This is what the message of today is. The power of the word of God. For most of us it will be manifested in many little things, at times when we are least aware of it.
Once a young lady asked me a question about prayer. It was one of those situations where many things were happening and I did not have the time nor did she expect a lot of time. My answer was almost shot out of my mouth: be quiet and listen. Her eyes lit up. “That is the answer” she said. No devils were cast out, no “amazing thing” thing happened...but a life changed. My point is that the Lord will use us to bring His kingdom into the world. We have to be patient, accept our vocation as disciples with hope and most importantly to realize it is not our work but the Lord’s.
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. The image of the Lord singing a song to His Father....a song of joy, thanksgiving and yes even amazement. In His human nature Jesus must have been surprised sometimes at how the Father worked. Under the words of Our Lord’s beautiful hymn is hidden His sense of not only thanksgiving but also surprise. Isn’t surprise part and parcel of thanksgiving? Children love surprises, adults love surprises...to be open to the overwhelming surprise of God’s love in our lives.
A disciple is one who is open to be being surprised. A world so tightly ordered, planned gives no room for God’s intrusion. The protection which we seek in having everything well mapped out can be a roadblock to what the Lord wants us to do. Someone once said: if I want to make God laugh just tell Him my plans.