The Gospel “reawakens in all those who are baptised the awareness of being missionaries of Christ, called to prepare the way for him through words and the witness of one’s life”, because mission “is not reserved solely for the Apostles but also extends to the other disciples”.This was what Benedict XVI had to say about today’s Gospel reading (cfr Lk 10:1-12; 17-20), before the Angelus. Taking his cue from this passage, he stressed that “the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.”The Pope noted how today’s Gospel presents “Jesus sending the seventy-two disciples in villages where he is about to go, so that they may prepare the environment. And this is a particularity of the evangelist Luke, who underlines that mission is not reserved for the 12 Apostles but extends also to the other disciples.” In fact, “there is work for all in the field of God”. But Christ, says Benedict XVI, “does not limit himself to sending them: He also gives the missionaries clear and precise rules of how to behave. Above all, he sends them ‘two by two’, so that they may help each other and bear witness to fraternal love. He warns them that they will be ‘like lambs amongst wolves’: thus they must be peaceful despite everything and bear a message of peace in all situations; they will not take clothes or money with them, to live off what Providence offers them; they will take care of the sick, as a sign of the mercy of God; they will leave from those places where they are refused, limiting themselves to delivering a warning about the responsibility of rejecting the Kingdom of God.”
St Luke, continues the pontiff, “highlights the enthusiasm of the disciples for the good fruits of the mission, and records that beautiful expression of Jesus: ‘Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven’ (Lk 10:20). This Gospel reawakens in all those who are baptised the awareness of being missionaries of Christ, called to prepare the way for him through words and the witness of one’s life.”
Right before the prayer, the Pope recalled that tomorrow he will leave for his summer holidays in Lorenzago di Cadore, in the house that welcomed John Paul II and he augured that all, “especially those who feel they really need it, will be able to take some vacation, to reinvigorate physical and spiritual energies and to recover healthy contact with nature.” The mountains, he added, “evoke the ascent of the spirit, the elevation towards ‘the high measure’ of our humanity, which unfortunately daily life tends to bring down.”
In conclusion, Benedict XVI recalled the fifth Pilgrimage of youth to the Cross of Adamello, where John Paul went twice. The pilgrimage took place recently and shortly before the Angelus, it culminated in Holy Mass celebrated at an altitude of around 3,000 metres. Greeting the Archbishop of Trento and the Secretary General of CEI, as well as the authorities of Trento, the Pope recalled his date with all Italian youth on 1 and 2 September in Loreto.
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