Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 7, 2021
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.
Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Today’s reading is the second of the five sermons or discourses of Jesus that appear in Matthew’s Gospel. The reading is the beginning of the mission discourse where Jesus empowers the Twelve to go to Israel and show them the way, curing the sick and casting out demons. The apostles are empowered by Jesus to evangelize, and the Good News is to be given freely!
So how can we bring the mission forward to our lives? I think it’s safe to assume that we will not be casting out demons or raising the dead. I suggest that by living faithfully through God’s Word, just in our everyday lives, we can in fact cast out those demons. Saint Therese of Lisieux dedicated herself to living her faith in anything that she did, no matter how small. So let’s not overthink this. We should try to keep things both simple and practical in our spiritual lives.
A contemporary example of simple and practical evangelizing is my friend Fr. William Atkinson, OSA. I taught Theology with Father Atkinson at Monsignor Bonner High School. He taught there for 30 years, and he was also quadriplegic. Every ordinary thing that Father Atkinson did was, in fact, extraordinary, and as such, he evangelized and modeled for us all. His life and witness cast out our demons of ingratitude or complacency with the blessings in our lives.
Matthew’s Gospel begins with the infancy narrative in which Jesus shall be called Emmanuel, meaning God is with us. And it ends with Jesus telling the disciples that he will be with them always. Therefore, let us respond to Jesus’ call to evangelize the world, just as the apostles and my dear friend Father Atkinson did. And while we do that, may we remember that Jesus is always with us every step of the way.
Prayer
Lord God, every time we read the names of the Twelve disciples, we wonder what it will be like to meet them all some day in heaven. Though we know a little about some of them — Peter denied you three times, Matthew was a tax collector, Judas betrayed you, they were fishermen — we don’t really know them. Some day we will know them. Help us to not be afraid of the truth that each day we are one day closer to our heavenly homeland. And send us out, Lord, to witness to the Kingdom, to preach the Kingdom. May our words and actions be a sign to all the world that your Kingdom is here among us and yet to come. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Blessed Maria Romero Meneses was a modern-day social reformer who brought about a “revolution of charity” in Costa Rica.
She was born in Nicaragua in 1902, one of eight children who grew up in an upper class family. Maria received a very good education at a school staffed by sisters in a religious community founded by St. John Bosco—they were known as the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians.
When she was 12 years old, Maria fell sick with rheumatic fever, and struggled all year to regain her health. She was completely paralyzed for six months, but was patient and prayerful in her suffering, which she saw as a gift from God. Doctors reported that her heart was damaged from the sickness, but she appealed to Our Lady, Help of Christians, and received some sort of assurance that she would be healed.
When a friend from school visited her, she said, “I know that the Blessed Virgin will cure me.” A few days later, she regained her health and returned to school, fully recovered.
A spiritual director helped her sort through and better understand the mystical experiences she was having, and she realized that she was being called to religious life. She joined the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians—the nuns who staffed her school—and closely followed the spirituality of John Bosco.
In 1931, she was sent to Costa Rica, where she taught at a school for girls from wealthy families. She also went into the poor neighborhoods to teach the faith there, and to help people acquire practical skills for work. Her example moved students at the school, and many girls joined her work to improve the lives of the poor.
Maria began to understand her purpose in life—to encourage social development by helping wealthy people see how they could change the lives of poor people. She gathered resources and established recreational centers and food distribution organizations. In 1961, she opened a school for poor girls; a few years later, she opened a clinic and supported it by recruiting doctors and finding donations for medicine.
She had a vision to build a village for poor people that contained all they needed to flourish. In 1973, the first seven homes were built in a new development outside of the city named Centro San Josè—it grew to include a farm, a market, and a school where people could learn the faith and find job training. It also included a church dedicated to Our Lady, Help of Christians.
Maria knew that she was participating in God’s work, so she had every confidence that her efforts at social development would grow. She died of a heart attack on this date in 1977, and she is buried in the chapel in San Josè. She is the first Central American to be beatified.
Bl. Maria Romero Meneses, you brought about a revolution of charity in Costa Rica in the 1970s—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Maria Romero Meneses is in the public domain. Last accessed March 19, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
