14th Sunday of the Year
Isaiah 66:10–14; Galatians 6:14–18; Luke 10:1–9

Eye of the hurricane
Our mission is to bring the peace of Christ to the world.

In 1980 a national magazine carried an unusual story.
A man returned to his car, which was parked outside a
large shopping mall. Lying on the front seat was a note:

“Dear Sir or Madam:

“I fully intended to steal your car until I noticed the ‘Peace-Be-to-You’ sticker. It made me pause and reflect. I reasoned that if I did steal your car, you certainly would not be at peace,
and on the other hand, I felt I would not be at peace either, as this was my first ‘job.’

“So, ‘peace be to you’ and to me. Drive carefully and next time lock your car.’’

The note was signed: “A Would-Be Car Thief.’’

That unusual story illustrates the rather unusual instruction Jesus gave his disciples in today’s gospel:

“Whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’ If a peace-loving man lives there, let your greeting of peace remain on him; if not, take back your greeting of peace.”

Applying that to our story, we see that the “Peace-Be-to-You’’ sticker extended the peace of Christ to the would-be thief.
The thief was a peaceable man at heart, and the peace of Christ rested upon him.

That raises a question. What do we mean by the “peace of Christ’’? What are the ingredients that make it up?

When the Bible uses the word peace, it uses it in four different senses.

First, it uses it in a military sense to indicate an absence
of war between nations. Thus we say, “The nations are
at peace.’’

Second, it uses it in a personal sense to indicate a feeling
of personal well-being. Thus we say, “We are at peace with ourselves.’’

Third, the Bible uses the word peace in a religious sense to indicate a right relationship between God and ourselves.
Thus we say, “We are at peace with God.’’

Lastly, the Bible uses the word peace to indicate a state in which everyone on earth is at peace with God, neighbor,
and self. This is what we mean by the “peace of Christ.’’

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you.” John 14:27
The priest recalls these words in each celebration of Mass.
This peace is nothing else but the realization of God’s kingdom on earth the kingdom we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer when we say,“May your Kingdom come. . . .”
It is this peace that Jesus instructed his disciples to carry into their world in their day. It is this peace that Jesus instructs us
to carry into our world in our day.
We are to be instruments by which the peace of Christ is to be extended to every individual in every nation on earth.

An analogy may help us see how Jesus intends us to do this.

When the winds of a tropical storm exceed 75 miles per hour,
the storm is called a typhoon when it occurs over the Pacific Ocean, and a hurricane when it occurs over the Atlantic Ocean.

To get an idea of what a hurricane is like, imagine a Frisbee with a hole in its center.

Now, imagine the Frisbee grows and grows until it becomes 100 miles across and the hole in it becomes 10 miles across.
Now, spin that giant Frisbee so that it turns at the rate of 100 miles per hour.

That’s what a hurricane is like.

The interesting part of a hurricane is its eye the hole in the center of our Frisbee. Even though the winds are roaring around it at a rate of 100 miles per hour, the eye in the center of the hurricane is absolutely calm. There is no wind blowing at all.

If you stand in the eye of a hurricane and look up, you see blue sky and the sun shining.

The eye of the hurricane is a good image of what Jesus intended the Lord’s Supper to be, as we gather to share it each Sunday.

All about us storms rage in our world. People shout and steal;
groups riot and loot; nations battle and destroy one another.

At the Lord’s Supper, however, all is calm. We look up and we see only blue sky and a shining sun. We are in the eye of the hurricane. We enjoy the “peace of Christ.’’

Jesus gave us this peace not to remain in permanently,
but to refuel in temporarily.

Just as the eye of the hurricane lasts only about an hour as it passes through, so the Lord’s Supper lasts only about an hour.

Jesus never intended that we remain in the eye of the hurricane. He intended that we go out again into the
storm. Jesus intended that we go forth from the Lord’s Supper to be an eye of peace amidst the storms of our world.

He intended that we share the peace of Christ, which we have experienced in the Eucharist, with the rest of the world.

He intended that we be the instruments by which the peace of Christ would spread to the rest of the world.

And so the Bible speaks of four kinds of peace: peace among nations, peace within ourselves, peace with God,
and the peace of Christ that is, a state in which everyone
in the world is at peace with God, neighbor, and self.

This final peace, the peace of Christ, is none other than the realization of God’s kingdom on earth.

It is this peace that Jesus made possible by becoming man.

It is this peace that Jesus instructed his disciples to bring to their world in their times.

It is this peace that Jesus instructs us to bring to our world in our times.

It is this peace that we pray Jesus will pour out upon us
this morning:

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

“Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that
 we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.’’ St. Francis of Assisi

 
Series II
14th Sunday of the Year
Isaiah 66:10–14; Galatians 6:14–18; Luke 10:1–9

Help wanted!
The harvest is rich but the workers are few.

Margaret Mehren is a Franciscan nun. She teaches English in a high school for blacks in South Africa. The story of how Margaret became a nun reads like a Hollywood movie script.

She grew up in a family that was very anti-Church. And the Church that her family hated most was the Catholic Church.

As a teenager,Margaret read pamphlets that tried to prove that the Bible was false and that Christianity was dead and
no longer relevant for the modern world.

Then one day, out of curiosity, she picked up the Bible to see for herself what it was all about.

After a while, she put it down. The pamphlet was right.
The Bible didn’t make sense; it couldn’t be true. Later
on, she picked the Bible up again. Once again, she put
it down. It still didn’t make sense. It left her unmoved.

But something kept bringing Margaret back to that Bible.
And one night she picked it up again. This time, she happened to turn to the Gospels. And this time it made sense. It had an impact on her that changed her life.

Later she wrote in a magazine article:

“Something happened to me [that night] when I read the words of Jesus. I knew he was alive! . . . I knew he was there [in the room with me], even though I could not hear or see anything.

Jesus was real, more real than anything around me. . . .
I was no longer alone. My life was no longer a dead-end street.’’

Eventually,Margaret became a Catholic. Then, shortly after entering the Church, she became a nun. She remains a nun today, teaching black students in South Africa.

Consider another story.

A few years ago a Jesuit priest from India, named Anthony de Mello, did a satellite television program. It was transmitted to 76 universities in the United States and Canada and involved 3,000 college students in open dialogue.

Tony’s impact on the students was the same as the impact that he had earlier when he appeared on a New York talk show.
That broadcast got more phone calls than did any other broadcast that year.

Like the story of Margaret Mehren, the story of how Tony became a priest reads like a television script.

Tony grew up near Bombay, India, in a Catholic family.
One day he came home from high school and asked his
father if he could become a priest. His father said, “No,
you’re my only son, and I want you to carry on the family name.’’

A short time later, after a span of 14 years of having no children, Tony’s mother became pregnant. When she was rushed to the hospital for delivery, Tony ran the four-mile distance on foot.

Arriving out of breath, he asked his father, “Is it a boy
or a girl?’’ His father smiled and said, “Tony, you have
a brother!’’ Tony said, “Great, Dad! Now I can become
a priest!’’

Consider yet a third story.

Ann Landers wrote her first advice column for a newspaper 30 years ago. Now her syndicated feature appears in over 1,000 newspapers.

Some time ago an interviewer asked her, “What is the question that you are asked most frequently by your readers?’’

She answered that it was a very simple question: “What’s the matter with me? Why am I so lonely?’’

The interviewer then asked her what the solution to that problem was. Her answer was, “Get involved! Do something for other people.’’ And the people who need help are all about you. Everywhere you look, you see them.

The stories of Margaret and Tony and the story of Ann Landers fit in beautifully with today’s gospel. In it Jesus tells his disciples, “There is a large harvest, but few workers to gather it in.”

What Jesus meant by this remark is that the world is filled with needy people. But there are so few people willing to help them.

From the minority students that Margaret Mehren teaches
in South Africa to the college students that Tony de Mello addressed via satellite, people are looking for help.

The problem is that there are too few people willing to help.
There are too few Margarets in the world. And there are too few Tonys in the world.

Never before in history has there been a harvest so great.
And never before in history have the workers been so few.

Never before in history has there been such a need for generous people to step forward and help Jesus with the harvest.

That brings us to the practical application of all this to our lives.

If we are young people and want to make a difference in our world, maybe we should take very seriously the words of Jesus in today’s gospel.

Maybe we should consider doing what Margaret and Tony did. Maybe Jesus is trying to speak to us through their stories.

At the very least, we should do this much: We should take seriously Jesus’ words about the need for workers in the harvest. We should pray over his words earnestly! We shouldn’t simply dismiss them.


And if we are adults who still feel that something is missing
in our lives, maybe we should take very seriously the words
of Jesus in today’s gospel.

Maybe we should consider the advice of Ann Landers to her readers. Maybe we should get involved. Maybe we should think about doing something to make this world a better place
for our children. Maybe Jesus is trying to speak to us
through her words.

At the very least, we should do this much: We should take seriously Jesus’ words about the need for workers in the harvest. We should pray over his words earnestly! We shouldn’t simply dismiss them.

This is the message in today’s gospel. This is what Jesus is saying to us in this liturgy. For indeed, my brothers and sisters, never in history has the harvest been so great. Never have the workers been so few.

 
Series III
14th Sunday of the Year
Isaiah 66:10–14, Galatians 6:14–18, Luke 10:1–9

Peace
Peace is Jesus’ gift to us and a sign of God’s Kingdom.
Jesus said,]“Whenever you go into a house,first say, ‘Peace be with this house. . . .The Kingdom of God has come near you.’ ” Luke 10:5, 9

Jack Benny was one of radio and TV’s earliest and most popular comedians. His trademark was his stinginess.

In a memorable episode, a robber put a gun to his head and said, “Your money or your life.”

Jack didn’t answer right away. So the robber shouted angrily,
“I said, ‘Your money or your life.’ ” Jack shouted back,
“Give me time. I’m still thinking.”

In real life Jack had a generous, loving heart.

The day after he died, his widow,Mary, received a beautiful long-stemmed red rose. It contained no card identifying the sender.

The next day another long-stemmed red rose arrived.
It went on like that for about a week.

Finally,Mary called the florist and asked, “My curiosity is getting the best of me. To whom do I give thanks for these beautiful gifts?”
The florist said, “They’re from Jack. He arranged for me to send a long-stemmed red rose to you every day for the rest of your life.”

Mary was moved to tears. It was the kind of thing she had grown to expect from the generous, loving heart of Jack.

That beautiful story makes a good introduction to today’s Gospel.

There, in the course of briefing his disciples on how to proclaim the Good News on their first missionary trip,
Jesus says:

“Whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house. . . . The Kingdom of God has come near you.’ ” Luke 10:5, 9

This instruction previews Jesus’ parting gift to his followers.
It occurs during his farewell discourse at the Last Supper, when he says:

“Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you.” John 14:27

Here we should note that the Bible speaks of four kinds of peace.

First, it speaks of peace in a military sense to indicate the absence of war between nations.

Thus it speaks of peace among nations.

Second, it speaks of peace in a personal sense to indicate a feeling of personal well-being.

Thus it speaks of being at peace with ourselves.

Third, it speaks of peace in a religious sense to indicate a right relationship with God.

Thus it speaks of being at peace with God.

Finally, it speaks of peace in the sense that Jesus used
it, namely, to indicate a state in which everyone on earth
is at peace with God, neighbor, and oneself.

It is this peace that we call the “peace of Christ.”

It is the peace the priest prays for at every Mass, just after the Lord’s Prayer, saying:

Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles:

“I leave you peace, my peace I give you.”

Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live for ever and ever.

To this prayer of the priest we all answer, “Amen.”

Then we extend peace to one another, saying, “The peace of Christ.”

This peace of Christ is nothing else but the realization
of God’s Kingdom on earth.

It is the kingdom we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer when we say, “Thy Kingdom come.”

It is this peace that Jesus was referring to when he said in the course of briefing his disciples on how to proclaim the Good News on their first missionary trip:

“Whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house. . . . The Kingdom of God has come near you.’ ” Luke 10:5, 9

Jesus’ “gift of peace” involves a state of deep “interior calm,” the fruit of our union with God.

It’s the state of union and calm with God that Saint Augustine talked about when he said, “Our hearts were made for you,
O God, and they will not rest until they rest in you.”

It is this gift that Jesus made possible by his death and resurrection.

The idea of peace as a “gift from God” goes back to the time of Moses at Mount Sinai.

There God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and, later, commanded Moses:

to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:

May the LORD bless you and take care of you;
May the LORD be kind and gracious to you;

May the LORD look on you with favor and give you peace. Numbers 6:23–26
 
It is this blessing of peace that we pray each one of us here
will experience from this day forward for the rest of our lives.