Lesson on Discipleship

07-06-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

Today, the Gospel gives us a peek at the life of the earliest Christian disciples. From the twelve intimate disciples, Jesus expanded by choosing 72 others and sending them in pairs. The large number represents a wide circle of collaboration and scope of operation, eventually throughout the world. The sending in twos is consistent with the Jewish practice that only upon the word of two witnesses is a truth established. Disciples are sent not in their name or about themselves, but in God and His Kingdom.

The task of the seventy-two is to prepare the way for every town and city the Lord Himself is to visit. Like the first (72) disciples, parents prepare the way of Jesus in the life of their children, so that, on the day they decide to follow Jesus, they will be ready. In the Church, we accept infant baptism; we believe that parents are the source of human life. They are also the source of moral, religious, and spiritual life. We cannot provide Christian formation for our children in a vacuum and let nature take its course. Jesus says that the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few, so we pray with our children, students, and young people for vocations. We pray that Christian families continue to be the seedbed for vocations.

Jesus gives instructions to the seventy-two whom He sends in twos. 1.) Disciples are to travel light and be free of all material attachments that could slow them down. They have a clear mission; this should be their only concern. To be agents of healing, they must be free from financial and material worries. Because for a disciple whose heart is set on his mission, security is the last of his concerns. 2.) The mission is urgent - there is no time to waste, it is constantly moving on. There is an urgency, for the harvest is abundant and ripe; there is no time for delay. 3.) Disciples are agents of peace. Every mission starts with the blessing of PEACE from the Lord. The irony is this: A disciple is blessed when a greeting is not returned; when charity is not reciprocated, and the spirit of goodwill is met with suspicion, but still, he continues the mission.

Lk. 10:3 “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” There are many things we cannot explain or understand in this life, except through God’s wisdom. How one becomes a member of Jesus’ disciples' “advance party” itself is a matter of grace. Many of us who were called and continue to be called are not so much because of ourselves. We are earthen vessels that carry a treasure, unworthy messengers that proclaim a tremendous message. We are disciples of a Master. Trust Him.

Let us all pray for the grace of faith. Remember, grace is more than something we work for or earn; it is a gift from God. Discipleship is all about God and not about us. Let us pray for the grace to see God’s master plan and trust that all things come to fulfillment in His way and in His time. I do not understand the mystery of grace, only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.