What We Need for the Journey, Lectio Divina for the Seton Route Eucharistic Pilgrims, May 18, 2024

6 months ago11 min read

Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Mary’s Rectory Chapel, New Haven, Connecticut
Reflection in Preparation for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage
May 18, 2024

To listen to an audio recording of this meditation, please click below.

The is the outline of the lectio divina.

As we prepare tonight, after we begin Pentecost, to start our National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, I thought it would be helpful for us to ponder, in lectio divina, the two passages when Jesus sent out the Twelve and when he sent out the Seventy-Two. There are many elements there that can guide us as we prepare to be sent out by Jesus with Jesus, assisted by the Holy Spirit, whose gifts we ask him to renew in us at the Vigil Mass tonight and then tomorrow.
Passages
- Lk 9: Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal [the sick]. He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
- Lk 10: After this 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.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town. … Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
Elements
- Appointment
  - “Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority”
  - “The Lord appointed 72 others whom he sent ahead of him.”
  - We don’t choose the Lord, he chooses us. We have been chosen just like the 12, just like the first disciples.
- Prayer
  - 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.”
  - Jesus calls those praying.
  - We are sustained by the prayers of the Church from the beginning. The prayers of so many now.
  - Need for laborers, hard workers, not bodies.
- Message
  - “He sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God”
  - “Say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’

- - Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, said very powerfully back in 2000 in a talk to catechists from around the world, “The kingdom of God … is ‘not a thing.’ The Kingdom of God is God. The Kingdom of God means: God exists. God is alive. God is present and acts in the world, in our – in my life. God is not a faraway ‘ultimate cause,’ God is not the ‘great architect’ of deism, who created the machine of the world and is no longer part of it – on the contrary: God is the most present and decisive reality in each and every act of my life, in each and every moment of history.” The kingdom has come to a person when God is truly God of each and every act of one’s life.
- The sick and the possessed
  - “He gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases…”
  - “Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, … cure the sick in it.”
  - There is a special mission to the sick and possessed. We must prioritize them.
  - Jesus will be with us to heal the sick and exorcise demons. There are so many who are wounded, who are under the sway of the devil’s lies and evil works. We pray for both groups as we journey.
- Spiritual poverty
  - “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.”
  - “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.”
  - We think we’re traveling light!
  - Jesus tells us what not to take rather than what to take.
  - Jesus wanted us to proclaim our total trust in God and in his providence.
  - Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.”
  - We take him for the journey. We lean on him rather than a walking stick. We eat him. We become rich in him. We are clothed in his virtues. We walk in his ways. In short, we trust in him to provide… always!
- Focus
  - “Greet no one along the way.”
  - Not a green light to be rude but to stay focused.
  - This is not just to avoid bad things, but also good things that are not part of the mission.
- Hospitality
  - “Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.”
  - “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.
  - “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
  - People in receiving us, receive Jesus and receive God the Father who sent Jesus. That’s why we need to allow ourselves to be received as missionaries of the Lord. Their goodness to us is a goodness to Jesus. Mt. 25.
  - Eat and drink what is offered. Not be fussy. Receive as a gift.
  - Stay in the same place. Shouldn’t be looking for a better deal.
  - We wish peace. The sum of all good. The tranquility of a right relationship with God and others that the Prince of Peace brings.
- Opposition
  - “Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”
  - He wants us to be innocent like lambs.
  - He wants us to recognize that there are wolves. He does not want us to be naïve. We are going to encounter opposition just like he did. We shouldn’t be surprised or throw off. He was preparing us for rejection and to recognize that we will sometimes see the evil that his goodness can bring to the surface.
  - He tells us not to be afraid, to trust in the Father, to trust in him, to have the Holy Spirit’s gift of courage.
- No resentment
  - “As for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.”
  - “Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town. …
  - We shake the dust off our feet. We don’t take our resentments to the next town. We leave it behind so that we can then proclaim the good news.
- Action
  - “Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.”
  - It’s not enough to receive the instructions, even to prepare. We must do it.
- Joy
  - The seventy[-two] returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
  - We will see great things too. I’m convinced we are going to see literal miracles both spiritual and physical. They’re all small change to the miracle of transubstantiation. There will be faith enough to move mountains. We hope to have at least a mustard seed of it ourselves.
  - The greatest gift is our relationship with the Lord. He knows our names. They are written in heaven. We rejoice in that. And that makes us unafraid, even of the things that might be difficult along the journey.
The Incredible Bonus
- Jesus sent them out with these instructions and they were able to succeed in the mission.
- But they still didn’t have a gift they would receive to help them bear greater fruit.
- The gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Tongues of Fire.
- Good for you that I go.
- Helps us to pray, to live, to be a temple, to develop our manifestations for the common good, to proclaim.
- He gives us what to say.
- We give common witness with him.
- As we prepare for Pentecost and for our Eucharistic mission, we ask him to come down upon us so that we may live out Jesus’ missionary instructions and we are sent to the towns and villages that he sends us not two by two but as an apostolic band.