FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, JULY 6, 2025

MASS READINGS

Gospel Luke 10:1-9

At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.

He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.

Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.

Into whatever house you enter, 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.

Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment.

Do not move about from one house to another.

Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'"

REFLECTION

"Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household."

"Peace to this household". How many times does Jesus says the word "peace" in the New Testament?* And what is this peace?

One time my children asked me why do we pray for peace and why the world has not been able to obtain it. I paraphrased to them a quote that is attributed both to Thoreau and to Hawthorne, where it is said that happiness is like a butterfly. The more one chases it, the more it flies away. One has to stand quietly for it to approach us. Similarly peace is not something we chase around, it comes to us. It is a supernatural virtue, a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus sends His disciples to evangelize and bring His peace to others. In today's world, where it might be difficult to explicitly speak about God in the workplace, and in social settings, I've heard that we should evangelize with our example. However, I do know very good people, or at least people that behave extraordinarily in social contexts but they are not believers. So, what is the point? How are we different than others if we all are striving to be 'good people'?

This is when we need to bring Shalom. When Jesus talks about peace, He is talking about a peace that means wholeness, completeness, harmony and total well-being. It is a gift from God that helps us overcome ourselves. And if we persevere in God, nothing external will take it from us. It is what St. Francis would call "perfect joy":

Saint Francis said: “Brother Leo, please listen to me. Above all gifts of the Holy Spirit, that Christ Jesus gives to his friends is the grace to overcome oneself, to accept willingly, out of love for Him, all contempt, all discomfort, all injury, and all suffering. In this and all other gifts, we ourselves should not boast because all things are gifts from God. Remember the words of Saint Paul: ‘What do you have that you did not receive from God? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift (1 Corinthians 4:7)?’ But in the cross of afflictions and suffering, we truly can glory because as Saint Paul says again: ‘May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).’ Amen.” * * 

One of our PAPA Patrons, Saint Alphonsus, has a wonderful book that can help us understand and pray to God on how to achieve this level of peace. The name of the book is "Uniformity with God's Will". In this book he explains to us the difference between resignation and abandonment to God's Will. How despite of the difficulties of life we can have the serenity that only God can provide for us. And how we could become saints.

Also, our spiritual director, Father Michael, explains the virtue of patience in his wonderful theological dissertation. It is a worthy book to help us understand this uniformity to God's Will.

If we can take one thing from all the people that have learned this before us, is this: the more we chide away from God and His Will, the more unhappy we'll be. We need to learn to trust that God only wills our good and He truly loves us. Once we can do this, and learn to love Him we will start to experience His Peace. And once we experience His Peace, we will be able to bring it to others.

God bless y'all!

* Jesus says peace or Shalom directly 8 times in the New Testament:

• Matthew: 0 times.

• Mark: 1 time (Mark 5:34).

• Luke: 1 time (Luke 24:36).

• John: 6 times (John 14:27 [2], John 16:33 [1], John 20:19 [1], John 20:21 [1], John 20:26 [1]).

* *  https://assisiproject.com/2018/06/23/saint-francis-explains-perfect-joy/