Reflection on the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last Sunday and now this Sunday we have been reading from chapters 9 and 10 of Luke’s Gospel.  Jesus is aware that his days are numbered. He is heading toward Jerusalem with all that implies about meeting up with the temple authorities. Twice he has told his disciples that he is going to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and be put to death.

Jesus realizes that the work must go on — even without him. There are sick people who need help.  Others need reassurance. He is planning on visiting town after town himself, but he may wonder if he will be able to reach all of them. Luke tells us that Jesus appoints72 people to go to all these towns and villages where he hopes to go. He sends them out in pairs — 36 pairs of his followers heading off in all different directions. He wants them to greet the people with the words “peace to this house.”

Evidently, each pair is to find a place to stay for the few days they are in town. They are to eat what is set before them, which to us sounds like common courtesy. Be grateful for the food you are given.  But Jesus is living in a culture with strong dietary regulations connected to religion. He may be getting himself into more trouble by telling his followers to ignore the religious prescriptions. Don’t worry about some of the laws, he seems to be saying. Just bring peace to the house. Cure the sick whom you find and tell everyone that the kingdom of God is at hand for them. Give them hope. Encourage them.

In the past 50, 60, 70 years ago, many of us here were sent out. We were sent out mostly to teach, a few to cure the sick. Others of you here were sent out — to work in other countries, to serve the larger community in various ways. Some of you continue to do the work you were sent out to do. Some of us are now sent out to work with retreatants, to work on advocating for Earth, to interpret and to tutor, to help with childcare, to be on boards, to meet needs of people in the county — on and on.

For most of us here at the Motherhouse, the sending out is of a different sort now, and yet maybe the same. We, too, need to bring peace to others and to live in such a way so that the kingdom of God is here. We need to give hope and to encourage. We do that. It happens.

Retreatants sometimes speak of a peace they experience here — a sense of hospitality, especially before Covid, that comes from a simple greeting in the food line or a smile in the hall or a conversation at the table. A reaching out to the other.

We see kindness in the dining room and around the infirmary — going out to the other with a word or an offer to help. Cooperation, openness, reaching out, accepting, even putting up with can be asked of us. That is how we are “sent out.” Responding with love and kindness is the call.

We continue this celebration of Eucharist today, aware that we have been sent out or are sent out or will be sent out. May we respond with joy and peace and generosity.