14th Sunday per annum (OF) - Fourth of July Weekend

While most of this country is celebrating the Fourth of July today or tomorrow, we have a reminder from our Gospel today that Jesus did not establish the United States of America, even though some people may think otherwise. Jesus does establish a nation, but not one of this earth. Saint Paul calls it the true Israel or the Israel of God. It is that nation of which we are all citizens, whether or not we are Americans.

Jesus is shown by Saint Luke in today’s Gospel to be the new Moses establishing the New Israel.  Just as Moses had 70 elders to assist in administering Israel in the desert, so does Jesus have His 70 disciples to help in administering the new Israel. This new Israel is the Church established by Jesus and which is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of which we are all members. The 12 Apostles and the 70 disciples are the bishops and the priests of our Church today, guiding us towards continuing the mission of Jesus in this world.

The past two weeks have shown us in the Gospel readings the need to follow Jesus and some of the first steps to do this. To follow Jesus is to be a witness to Him, what the ancient Greeks called martyros. Sometimes the fullness of that witness came in dying rather than renouncing or cursing Christ, yet that is a part of the struggle the Church has had with the world since her founding. Saint Paul says that “the world is crucified to me and I to the world.” Jesus never says it will be easy; He says that He will be with us until the end of the world.

Let us pray that we may have the grace and the strength to bear witness to Jesus no matter the cost. Persecution seems to increase in our day, whether it is the hard persecution which sees Muslims kill numerous Christians in the Middle East, or the soft persecution which sees the Gospel condemned as hate speech or intolerant. If we are going to remain Christian, we will have to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to remain faithful in spite of pressure or even torture (God forbid). Let us pray for this nation, that it may return to God so that He may indeed bless it. Let us pray for the Church, that She will be faithful to the Gospel despite any and all persecution. And finally, let us pray that we may imitate the zeal of the 70 disciples, proclaiming the new Israel to all whom we meet, so that we may be worthy to find our names written in heaven.