July 3, 2022

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)      

Instructions for the Advance Team

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

When the President, the Pope or a world leader visits a town, you can be sure that prior to the event, the area is canvassed by advance teams of the US Secret Service and other security personnel. Advance teams set the stage, the groundwork for a successful visit.

The Gospel tells us that Our Lord had his own advance teams, a total of seventy-two disciples, whom he sent ahead of him to every town and place he intended to visit…Seventy two was not a random number. In the biblical world, seventy-two was held to be the number of nations in the world. So, St. Luke is reminding us that the mission of Christ is not only to Israel but to the whole world.

St. Luke also mentions that the disciples were sent out in pairs. Ah, interesting…just like the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses who knock at our doors! I often hear people say: You’ve got to admire the zeal and commitment of those Jehovah Witnesses, those Mormons!

One cold and rainy day, George was running late for work when there was a knock at the door. Opening the door, he found two very damp and shivering Jehovah Witnesses who asked if they could come inside. George could not leave them in the rain and invited them in. Seated in the living room, they were silent for a long time. So, George finally asked, What happens now? The older one said, We don’t know, We never got this far before.

How far do we get? What have we done to draw others to Christ and the Church? We lament vacant pews. We stress over the fact that family members forego a Catholic marriage and show no interest in baptizing their children. We may not go from house to house in pairs, yet to be Christian is to be a missionary, to be, if you will, on the Lord’s advance team. How can we set the stage so that others can be receptive to faith and open to the Person of Christ? Let’s consider the instructions the Lord gave his disciples. They are meant for us as well. He did not send them out unprepared.

I am sending you as lambs among wolves. The Lord knows that we will face indifference and even hostility to matters of faith. But the doors to hearts do not open with harsh words. So, the first instruction is to be meek. We usually think of a meek person as being cowardly, indecisive, and a doormat. But in Scripture, meekness is not weakness. It is a virtue and a beatitude. It is strength under control, a virtue that keeps anger and passions in check. Meekness makes us quick to listen and slow to speak, patient, kind, and understanding even when wronged or misunderstood.

More is accomplished by meekness than by anger. Harsh and wounding words are not the lexicon of the meek person. The Lord does not send us out as warriors, but as bearers of peace. “Peace to this house,” he would have us say. St. Francis DeSales said, One catches more flies with an ounce of honey, that with a barrel of vinegar. We must be meek because others don’t care what we know until they know that we care.

Our Lord’s other instructions are meant to keep us focused:

Carry no purse, no sack, no sandals means i.e., travel light detached and not weighed down by material things. While good and even necessary, we must take care that possessions do not become obsessions that weigh us down. An uncluttered life frees us to be attentive to God and others.

Greet no one along the way is not a pretext to be rude but an instruction to stay focused and avoid any delays or distractions. The same can be said of the directive,

Stay in the same house and do not move about from one house to another. The Lord is emphasizing the urgency of evangelization. We should possess a zeal and urgency for the spiritual welfare of others.

To be Catholic is to be an apostle, a missionary, a part of the Lord’s advance team. Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace to lay the groundwork by our meekness and our zeal so that the doors of many hearts will be open to the Lord and his Church.

But should anyone here prefer the method of the Mormons, I’ll supply the bike, backpack, and uniform!