I Didn't Know That

 

I’ve often run into Christian believers who didn’t know that the Gospel speaks of two separate “feeding of the thousands.”  In reading reflections (from The Better Part) on tomorrow’s Gospel (Lk 10), it struck me as a new understanding of Jesus’ sending out His followers on a missionary journey.  There were two of these events recorded also.  Either I forgot (which is likely) or I didn’t know the importance of the separate events.

In the Gospel, Jesus sends 72 disciples in front of Him, in pairs of two.  He had previously sent out the 12 of his apostles.  While The Better Part reflections (#185) speak the numbers as relating to the Catholic Church’s hierarchy structure, it also speaks of evangelistic failures, “Wipe the dust from your feet.”  Fr. Bartunek comments:

“If Christ Himself suffered seeming failures in the apostolate, should we expect anything more?  The greatest danger for an apostle is discouragement.  Discouragement comes from unfulfilled expectations.  To avoid discouragement, therefore, Jesus points out what our expectations need to be.  If we seek only to please the Lord, the Lord will indeed be pleased, even if no one else is.

“The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.”  Imagine the emotion behind those words.  They express a sense of urgency, a burning desire to reach out to all the men and women who so desperately need direction, meaning, and true love in their lives, and to lead them into the Kingdom.  So many needs, so many souls ripe for the Good News!  And yet so few of Christ’s followers are willing to go out and gather them in.  The true friends of Christ, the ones He can really count on, will let His yearning love echo in their hearts, and reverberate in their action.

The point Jesus is making is to just love, act with love.  That’s all He asks.  We don’t need to make elaborate plans, just go out into the world, with love as He did.

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Leading into that Gospel and Fr. Bartunek’s commentary are two quotes which are just great:

Adapt yourself with gracious and charitable compliance to all your neighbor’s weaknesses.  In particular, make a rule to hide your feelings in many inconsequential matters.  Give up all bitterness towards your neighbor, no matter what.  And be convinced that your neighbor is in everything better than you.  … each day, look for every possible opportunity to do a kindness for those you do not like.   
                                                                           -- St. John Baptist de la Salle

I am convinced that there is a great need for the whole Church to rediscover the joy of evangelization, to become a community inspired with missionary zeal to make Jesus better known and loved.
                                                            --  Pope Benedict XVI