Thursday, October 1, 2020 - 26th week of Ordinary Time - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10, 1-12 - The reign of God is at hand. Convert and believe in the Gospel.

Dear Christians, Christ chose seventy-two other disciples, in addition to the twelve apostles, because God needs many laborers, to work his field, to extend his kingdom. It is not that God is powerless and needs us, but that we humans must participate in the work of salvation. The disciples are sent to precede Jesus, that is, to prepare the people to welcome him. This is the work of the Christian: to prepare people to welcome God. But repenting them is God's job, because only he can change people's hearts.

Jesus sent the disciples in pairs because in Greek culture, the context in which Saint Luke wrote the Gospel, two people have to bear witness for something to be accepted as true. This also means that preaching the Gospel is not a matter of human pride but of cooperation and love shown in the sight of others. The first message of Jesus was to implore the owner of the field, this is the prayer we make every day for vocation. It is a mission in a hostile environment, and it is a work of God that must be done, hence the need for firm faith and unconditional trust in God.

It requires free, available men, without the hindrance of customs or wealth, to preach the kingdom of God. What must be proclaimed first is peace, a peace for which the world today thirsts. The proclamation of the Gospel is urgent because the Kingdom of God is at hand. Let us then take courage, God needs and calls men to reap his field, to establish his kingdom, a kingdom of peace. Amen