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Scripture Reflections for Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C, Lectionary 102

THEMES: Battle • Blessing • Boast • Call • Church • Circumcision • Comfort • Communication • Community • Creation • Cross • Culture • Disciple • Encounter • Evangelize • Evil • Focus • Glory • Greet • Healing • Hope • Journey • Joy • Justice • Kingdom • Love • Mission • Moses • Motivation • Peace • Plan • Pray • Priest • Providence • Rejoice • Relationship • Repent • Sent • Sight • St. Paul • Suffering • Transformation • Trust •

Isaiah 66:10-14

“by ignoring and not naming the injustices in our nation and also by silencing others from doing so, this in effect is actually sowing hatred and division” -Matt Kappadakunnel

Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20

Galatians 6:14-18

“it reveals to us the deeper logic of why he believes circumcision is not necessary. It's not because circumcision is bad, it's not because the Law of Moses is bad. It's because both of those things belong to the old creation and if you believe in Christ and you've been baptized you don't belong to the old creation anymore” -Brant Pitre

“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”

Fr. Simon Gaine. "Only Christ." Torch. June 30, 2022

“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.”

Bishop Robert Barron. "Boasting in the Cross." Word on Fire. July 7, 2019

Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

“the harvest is ready, there are many people that Jesus wants to reach today. He needs you and he needs me for the job. Will you be an obstacle or will you be a channel?” -Fr. Emmanuel Ochigbo

“if you're Jesus and...you appoint 70 other disciples...What's the implication of that act?...you are setting up a priestly hierarchy of appointed leaders underneath you not just to bring the Good News to the 12 tribes of Israel but to bring the Good News to all the nations” -Brant Pitre

“If you want to conquer bodies, physical bodies, then you go in with might and power and strength. You go in like a wolf. But if you want to conquer hearts you must go in as a lamb with a gentle heart and a bit vulnerable” -Fr. Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ

“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.”

Fr. Dermot Morrin. "Facing Jerusalem." Torch. July 4, 2019

“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”

Laura Kazlas. "Take Nothing for the Journey." A Catholic Moment. July 2, 2016

“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.”

Fr. Fabian Radcliffe. "Mission and Maintenance." Torch. July 4, 2010

“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”

Fr. Mark Edney. "Sending out labourers into the harvest." Torch. July 4, 2004

“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”

Fr. Gerard Meath. "I saw Satan fall...." Torch. July 8, 2001

“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.”

Fr. Juan P. Ruiz. "Lambs and Wolves - What Drives Your Actions?." Juan Point at a Time. July 7, 2022

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

Bishop Robert Barron. "How Will You Evangelize Today?." Word on Fire. July 3, 2022

“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?”

Elizabeth Lee. "Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time." Australian Women Preach. July 3, 2022

Richard Rohr. "Evil is socially legitimated before the individual dares." Center for Action and Contemplation. July 6, 2019

“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.”

Bishop Robert Barron. "A Portrait of the Church." Word on Fire. July 4, 2004

Overall Readings

“today we are called to follow a very clear plan of being Jesus' disciples with the promise that our God will comfort us like his children and...we will rejoice as his followers and as his church” -Maria Luevano-Salazar

“the image of God as mother offers something in addition to tenderness and compassion. It offers the hope that something new can and will be born into the world, a new creation as Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians.” -Emily Rauer Davis

“we have to be on guard against the perennial temptation of busyness. We're often so busy with other things that we become totally oblivious to what is happening right before our eyes.” -Fr. Geoffrey Plant

“The connection I found for this Sunday's readings is that all that matters is for humanity to be connected to God” -Alex

“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”

Tzong Haur Matthew Sim. "Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. July 3, 2022

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

Mary Ortwein. "The Ordinary 72." A Catholic Moment. July 2, 2022

“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”

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "He sent out helpers." A Catholic Moment. July 7, 2019

“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.”

Christine Perrier. "Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. July 7, 2019

“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.”

Fr. Leo Edgar. "A Vision of Hope in the Words of Scripture?." Torch. June 29, 2016

“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”

Fr. David Sanders. "Peace be to this house." Torch. July 7, 2013

“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”

Laura Kazlas. "Words of Peace, Love and Healing." A Catholic Moment. July 7, 2013

“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.”

Fr. Benedict Jonak. "In the Vanguard." Torch. July 8, 2007

Richard Rohr. "Scattered Insights from Three Readings." Center for Action and Contemplation. July 3, 2016

Richard Rohr. "Three Good Lessons." Center for Action and Contemplation. July 7, 2013

“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”

Bishop Robert Barron. "God’s Tender Providence." Word on Fire. July 8, 2001

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