Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
With these words another episode of Star Trek was underway. While believing that I was never a trekkie, I certainly enjoyed watching this show and others whose theme was adventure and exploration.
We all get excited when we travel to new places and experience new opportunities. Sometimes it seems a little daunting at first, like the first time I traveled out of the country or for my daughter this summer as she travels across Europe. But usually, the excitement wins out over any apprehension.
As people of faith, do we seek out bold new adventures and proclaim Christ where we never have been before? And do we proclaim Him in the places we go every day?
What is the story about the 72 we just heard about in St. Luke’s Gospel? Who are they? Where did they come from? Why did Jesus select them to go out and proclaim the Kingdom of God? Were they afraid or excited? Did they go joyfully? Did they understand all the instructions Jesus gave them?
We do not know the 72. In fact, we are not sure if it was indeed 72; it could have been 70 or some other number. The number is given to us so we can understand that Jesus is sending out proclaimers to all the people; to all the nations! We do not know if they were afraid or excited but we do know that they returned to Jesus with great joy.
This indicates to us that they must have followed the instructions of Jesus and bore good fruit. After all, they proclaimed the “kingdom of God is at hand” and they took with them a message of peace. Surely, this was good news for all who took the message in with open hearts. But we should also conclude that not everyone received the message and accepted it. That’s o.k. too; Jesus gives them instructions for that reality as well. Here the message is clear; be faithful to what I am asking you to do and do not worry about being successful.
We also hear in today’s Gospel the line about the harvest being abundant and laborers few. This was true then and remains true today. Again we see an emphasis of faithfulness and not success; at least success as the world measures success. This line is often used as a clarion call about vocations; specifically to ordained or religious life.
Let’s talk about this for a moment for all too often every discussion about religious vocations takes a somber tone. While it is true we always need more vocations we many times miss the good news here. In our own archdiocese we will ordain our newest Priest next Saturday and just three weeks later several ordinations to the transitional diaconate. These are men who will be ordained to the Priesthood within a year. I have already shared with you the good news about seminary enrollment both at St. Joseph and Notre Dame. And there is great hope here as our new Archbishop, Gregory Aymond continues to emphasize this important responsibility of his episcopacy. The results in recent years in Austin alone should be hopeful signs for us. Do you remember last summer the visit we had from a young Priest from Africa who shared with us that he was one of 47 men ordained on the same day. And we do see increasing numbers in several dioceses across the country. However, Jesus’ words still ring out: the laborers are few.
This is our challenge this week as we pray for vocations and we respond to how Jesus is calling us to go out from this very Mass. We can evangelize and proclaim God’s kingdom and the teachings of Jesus where we are planted. At work, school, home, our neighborhoods and community we can be that example of what being a follower, a disciple really looks like. And we can talk with and pray with others who truly need to hear a word about God’s love for them. And we can be a steadfast people in encouraging, praying for and fostering vocations; starting in our own families and among our own friends and parishioners.
And perhaps among some of us gathered here today are those called to travel to areas of the world that still need to hear the Good News. Maybe some one today will be challenged to boldly go to another country and minister to the needs of the people while proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
And we then can return every week full of joy and embracing the words of Jesus from today’s Gospel: your name will be written in Heaven.
We do this with joy and remember that He calls us to be faithful and to worry less about being successful. And on this Independence Day we can also rejoice in our true freedom, yes our true freedom, which comes from being dependant on Him.
So can we all agree that we will go forth today, sent by the same Jesus who sent the 72, to boldly go where we have never gone before and boldly proclaim:
The Kingdom of God is at hand!
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