WEEKLY REFLECTION
This weekend, the Church contemplates how from those following the Lord that had been called by him, besides the Twelve, there were also numerous disciples. From all those disciples the Lord chooses seventy-two for a concrete mission. He expects from them the same as from the Apostles, namely, total generosity and complete abandonment to Divine Providence.

The Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, reminds us that from the Baptism each Christian is called by Christ to carry out a mission. The Church, in the name of our Lord, “earnestly entreats all the laity in the Lord to answer gladly, nobly, and promptly the more urgent invitation of Christ in this hour and the impulse of the Holy Spirit. The Lord renews His invitation to all the laity to come closer to Him every day, recognizing that what is His is also their own, to associate themselves with Him in His saving mission. Once again, He sends them into every town and place where He will come so that they may show that they are co-workers in the various forms and modes of the one apostolate of the Church, which must be constantly adapted to the new needs of our times. “Ever productive as they should be in the work of the Lord, they know that their labor in Him is not in vain.” (Numbers. 33).

Christ wants to instill his disciples the apostolic boldness; this is why He says, “I am sending you.” The boldness of the Apostles and disciples came from the certainty they had been chosen and sent out by the God himself. They acted as the same Peter firmly explained at the Sanhedrin, in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, “nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

Unlike the Twelve, called by the Lord to remain with Him, the seventy-two then returned to their families and their work. They lived there with what they had found with Jesus: to bear witness, each in its place, just helping those to come closer to Jesus Christ.

When considering today that distant episode, we see that it is not just an historical memory. We are taking the hint: we can be next to Christ present in the Church and worship Him in the Eucharist. Pope Francis encourages us to “bring Christ to man, and lead to an encounter with Jesus Christ, Way, Truth and Life, truly present in the Church and contemporary in every man.”