July 6, 2025
Loving Father,
Through Your Son, our Divine Physician, we are reconciled to You and brought to wholeness of mind, body, and spirit. Help us to celebrate Your healing and forgiving love in our lives, especially through the Sacraments of the Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation. Amen.
Commentary
Our First Reading this weekend gives us the reason to carry our cross and die to our old selves. Isaiah the Prophet foretells a reason to rejoice even as we carry our burdens now.
Isaiah was speaking in his time of the restoration of Jerusalem after the exile. Though the Babylonians had destroyed the temple and all of Jerusalem with it because of the sins of the Israelites, God would restore it again. Those who once mourned over the death of Jerusalem would again rejoice and exult over her. They would celebrate, once again, their prosperity.
However, as we look to the Gospel, we will see something greater than the restoration or renovation of what was once destroyed. Rather, something completely new would break into our lives. A new temple and a new Jerusalem come down from heaven will replace the old. For this reason, we must abandon our old lives and embrace a new life in Christ.
Commentary
The reason why we die to our old selves is clear to St. Paul. Writing to the Galatians, he sees only “peace and mercy” as the outcome for those who follow the rule of life laid out for us by Christ — a rule of life that requires embracing the cross. For this reason, Paul boasts only in the “cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul goes on to say that he is not interested in the squabbles about those who are circumcised or not. Such arguments are based on the old life (complete with its laws). Paul says that he is only interested in “a new creation.”
He would not be interested in the restoration of a temple made of brick and stone. Nor would he be interested in the many preoccupations of our world today. Hanging onto the daily news of the world would not mean anything to Paul.
This should be the spirit of any Christian who has embraced a new life in Christ. We are challenged to avoid tensions, squabbles, and arguments that have no bearing on the peace and mercy that belongs to us all in the New Jerusalem.
How do you see yourself as a missionary for God’s Kingdom?
Continued...
Commentary
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus sends 72 disciples in pairs to every town He had intended to visit. In some translations, the number is 70.
According to Jewish tradition, there were as many as 70 to 72 nations outside of Israel.
Clearly, for Luke, Jesus intended to send the disciples on a worldwide mission to proclaim something new.
The Lord’s intent is not to restore the old Jerusalem but rather to proclaim to all of the world the message, “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.”
The worldwide mission continues even in our lives today. Most people — even Christians — do not know of the joy of embracing the Good News of God’s Kingdom breaking into our world. They are so caught up in the affairs and news of our passing world and not on the things of heaven.
The worldwide mission belongs to you too. There is a sense of urgency in Jesus’ message to “Go on your way” (even leaving money, sack, and sandals behind) and to spread the Good News.
How do you see yourself as a missionary for God’s Kingdom?
Becoming a missionary does not necessarily mean joining a religious order. It can mean reaching out to a neighbor and becoming their friend. After a time, they may feel a desire to embrace some things that you enjoy in your life. Perhaps they will embrace the joy of your faith in the Lord. The Cursillo Movement in the Church uses the following as their call to be missionaries:
Make a friend, be a friend, bring your friend to Christ.
The group offers the following prayer:
Father, your Son sent His Apostles, the bearers of His love and power, to proclaim the Gospel of life to all peoples and in the waters of baptism to cleanse those who believe. Lord, send us forth as messengers of salvation and peace, marked with the sign of the cross. Amen.
The prayer continues with Psalm 66.
The group offers the following prayer:
Father, your Son sent His Apostles, the bearers of His love and power, to proclaim the Gospel of life to all peoples and in the waters of baptism to cleanse those who believe. Lord, send us forth as messengers of salvation and peace, marked with the sign of the cross. Amen.
The prayer continues with Psalm 66.
Used with Permission. All rights reserved. Christ in Our Neighborhood © is a Scripture program designed by Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix. Free resources at dphx.org/christ-in-our-neighborhood.
