Scripture Reflections for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Whenever we find ourselves surrounded by ecclesiastical disputes and the nature of the Church is contested, our first thoughts should be trained on Jesus Christ, just as Paul boasted of Christ alone, and gloried in Him Crucified”

“The risen Jesus is this mystical body in which we are called, in Paul's language, to participate. Often in his letters he compares Christ to a living organism. He invites his readers and listeners not just to listen to him, not just to follow him, but to live in him.”

“Their joy is to be found not in what they have done in his name, nor in their own names, but in the fact their names are written in heaven (10.20). What their sending was about is surely what the sender is always about, his saving love for all of our wayward world.”

“when he sent his disciples out into the world to heal people, cure their diseases, cast out demons, and proclaim the kingdom of God...They didn’t just talk about the kingdom of God, they followed up their words with actions that spoke more elequently of love than mere words ever could”

“we can all ask ourselves whether our lives as Christians do reflect the...mission: the spreading of the Good News of the Kingdom in ways that make sense not just to ourselves but to those we live alongside, people whose culture and assumptions may well be very different from our own.”

“The overwhelming number of labourers in the harvest have always been anonymous. Men and women living their faith as spouses, parents, workers, pray-ers, and in innumerable other ways — all co-workers in the proclamation of the Kingdom”

“We are made in the image and likeness of God, and at the same time are part of his creation. We are answerable both to the God who made us and to the world we inhabit – peace and progress come from a creative tension between the two”

“So when Jesus sends us out as lambs among wolves we have nothing to fear. We bear peace within us that others may receive or may reject. Either way, that peace remains within us.”

“in the Bible, everybody, nothing great ever happens apart from prayer”

“How would it be if we were to reimagine this Gospel passage as Jesus inviting 72 aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to go out in pairs and take their spiritual insights and proclaim the Kingdom of God to all of us who come across the seas and settled on this land? What might it look like? Sound like? Feel like?”

“You got a mission. It's to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ. It's to bring people into the fold. Have you brought somebody to the Church? Have you brought someone to Jesus Christ? If not, you're not fulfilling this mission. You're not sent by the Lord.”

“People marginalized by their society and challenged by their life experiences find hope, promised by Christ, through those who try their best to live out their missionary discipleship”

“the cross reminds us evangelization isn’t meant to be a vacation. It’s meant to be work. It is meant to be sacrifice.”

“holiness is only possible when we recognize our nothingness before God. And the Gospel becomes easy to announce when we free ourselves from unnecessary ‘purse, bag and sandals’ that keep dragging us aback”

“The tools of our mission discipleship—of our being sent forth—are not in the accessories we carry with us, nor in what we believe are essentials for our travels, nor in our networking capabilities. Jesus sends us with only one security: humble, simple trust.”

“It would seem that God’s message to mankind...is the essential element in developing a true understanding of the sort of world we should be trying to establish for future generations – one based on Christian values of justice and peace, tolerance and love.”

“Jesus’s strategy demands his disciples travel light – no money, no provisions, not even sandals. They will be defenceless because the peace they bring will depend on complete trust in God”

“We need friendships and unity with all those who believe in Jesus Christ and his Father, to insulate us from the wolves of our own time”

“Wherever we go or live, even though we might be on our own, in our deepest identity we are always members of the body of Christ. Because of this we are always there on behalf of the whole community of the faithful.”

“you're going out as lambs among wolves, that means what? You can't rely on your own power. Rather, you must learn to rely on the providence and the direction of God as you go about your work”