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14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

One of the final efforts of Pope Benedict XVI was the announcement of the “New Evangelization” back in 2013.  This was a multi-year effort to focus on our “Journey with Christ through Faith, Worship, and Witness."  Pope Francis continued this work through his calling for a Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2016, noting that a loving God is also a merciful God, and that the best way to evangelize was to mirror that mercy as Christ taught us.  Although this multi-year focus concluded in 2016, this revitalized focus on evangelization still holds a strong focus throughout the Church.  Our readings for this 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time help us to see what can be accomplished when we seek to spread God’s love…

The Word for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 66:10-14c
Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20
Galatians 6:14-18
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 or 10:1-9

Our first reading is from the closing chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah.  The Babylonian exile is over and Jerusalem is again the center of God’s people, destined to be a beacon for the nations to see God’s love and mercy.  The sheer joy expressed by the prophet has us looking to the Lord as a mother looks to her children.  For through the Lord we shall “flourish like the grass.”  In other words, as servants of the Lord, we thrive.  This reading also gives us a rare reflection of God as mother.  For too long our faith has developed a tendency to view God as “father” while forgetting that God is also “mother.”  The prophetic view of God as mother is well documented in scripture and helps us to see the type of love God has for us.  It’s a joy that is well expressed in our Psalm as we sing, “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy!”

Our second reading is from the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  One of the primary threads in this letter is that we are no longer Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons:  We are all one.  This is accomplished through our Baptism when we die to our old self and rise to our new self.  in Paul’s words, we become a “new creation.”  The Galatians were ancient Celts who settled in the territory of what is modern day Ancyra in Turkey.  They were mostly converts from paganism with no connection to Judaism.  He therefore used himself as an example, how he was one way before following Christ but became a new person, a new creation, after becoming a follower of Christ.  He equated his scars (from various floggings, stonings, and beatings) as symbols of his devotion to Christ, just as the “brands” many ancient pagans carried to honor their gods.  It didn’t matter who you were, what you looked like, or what you believed before because once you commit to Christ, you become something new.

Our Gospel from Luke supports both these readings in their joy of being followers and their enthusiastic acceptance of the gospel way of life.  Here we have Jesus commissioning the Seventy-two.  We may remember the story of Jesus telling the 12 Apostles to go out and minister to the people.  After the success of that mission we have a follow-up story unique to Luke’s Gospel where Jesus commissions an additional seventy-two disciples to go out just as the twelve did, without money or personal belongings, to heal the sick and preach the gospel.  The commissioning of this larger group reminds us that as a follower of Christ, we too must go out and preach the Gospel, and like the Jews returning to Jerusalem in our first reading, and the disciples returning from their mission, we will be filled with joy – a joy found in service to others.

Final thoughts:
We Americans get so caught up with the celebration of our Independence Day on July 4th we tend to forget about the Feast of Our Lady of Refuge on July 5th.  In fact, this date was set deliberately so that it would not conflict with the US holiday, even though it is still celebrated on July 4th in Mexico and other Latin American countries. 

The celebration of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, dates back to 1843 when founding bishop of Alta and Baja California, Francisco Diego Garcia y Moreno, stood on the steps of Mission Santa Clara de Asis and proclaimed Our Lady of Refuge as patroness of the two Californias.  While devotion to Our Lady of Refuge was quite popular in Spain and her colonies in the 18th and 19th century, its popularity began to wain through the 20th century.  While this feast is not a nationally recognized, it is noted  on the Liturgical Calendar for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  So as we celebrate the founding of our nation this week, let us also recognize and celebrate Our Lady of Refuge as patroness of California.

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