Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 3, 2022
At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’”
When I started teaching Sunday school, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I would spend Saturday afternoons researching topics, making detailed lesson plans, and printing out illustrated handouts.
All too aware of the importance, I fretted over whether the students were growing in their faith. Looking back, I see how overwrought my effort was and how harried I must have seemed to the kids.
The problem was not that I was taking the job too seriously but that I presumed I was doing it mostly on my own. And so, while I might have conveyed accurate information, I doubt that I engendered a deep sense of peace.
To be an apostle means to be sent out on a mission. Every Christian is an apostle since every Christian is tasked with bringing Christ’s peace and healing to the world. But Jesus never sends anyone out alone; his apostles can only accomplish their mission side-by-side with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ metaphor of harvesting also implies that someone was there before, planting and tending and that the apostle’s job is only a tiny part of a much bigger project. This project’s center is peace: not only giving peace to others but also cultivating peace within ourselves.
Jesus reveals the secrets of this peace: radical faith, joyful perseverance, humble acceptance of our limits and failures, and the assurance that one is never working alone. We go out to harvest what the Lord has already prepared, and in doing so, we also go ahead of the Lord, anticipating what he will continue to do in people’s lives long after we are gone.
We neither initiate nor complete the work of God’s kingdom; we can only perform our small role in a much bigger and more beautiful plan than we can imagine.
Prayer
Loving God, we give thanks for the way you entrust your work to us and let us share in your mission of bringing about your Kingdom. You send us among wolves wielding nothing but peace. Bring peace to the troubled parts of our lives so that we can more and more depend on it and then begin to witness it to others. We ask that you continue to call more people to join us in your work. Amen.
Saint of the Day
As one of the twelve disciples, St. Thomas was one of the closest followers of Christ.
His humanity is on full display in the Gospel. At first, he urges his friends to follow Christ, even to death, as they approach Jerusalem, the headquarters for the enemies of Jesus. Then, when Jesus is arrested, he runs away like almost everyone else.
One night after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Lord appeared to the disciples, who were locked in the upper room. Thomas happened to be absent, and when his friends told him that they had seen Jesus, he said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail-marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20: 19-29).
A week later, Jesus appeared to the group again, and this time Thomas is able to place his fingers in the very wounds of Christ. He professed his belief with the words, “My Lord and my God.”
After Pentecost, Thomas went east, evangelizing people all the way to India. He was martyred in India in the year 72—legend has it that he was stabbed with a spear while he was praying. He holds the spear of his martyrdom in many of his depictions, including these statues from campus.
Because of all the churches he built in India, St. Thomas is the patron saint of architects and builders. The statue on the left stands on the north face of Cushing Hall of Engineering, and the other can be found on Crowley Hall, which now houses music programs but used to house science and engineering labs. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
This desire to know by touching is common to the human condition. As children, we come to know the world through touching and manipulating it. If we can feel it, we know it is real. Yet, what is most real and true about our life—that it is rooted in God—escapes our senses. Jesus says to Thomas and to us: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
St. Thomas, you believed because you saw the risen Lord, and helped others believe on faith alone—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Thomas the Apostle is in the public domain. Last accessed March 19, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
