It is increasingly common in our day to hear of people who no longer want to live, because, they say, “life has no meaning”. What causes this? What causes life to lose its meaning?
Newsroom (06/07/2025 17:29, Gaudium Press) The Dominican Theologian Fr. Royo Marín teaches: “By achieving his own happiness, man glorifies God and, by glorifying Him, he finds his own happiness. These are two ends that are really confused, although there is a difference of reason between them. The supreme glorification of God fully coincides with our supreme happiness.”[1]
In fact, in order to be happy and find direction in his earthly pilgrimage, man needs to give glory to the Creator. Now, since good is imminently diffusive,[2] there is a natural desire in the human soul to make others take part in this glorification. We see that the apostolate is an essential condition for achieving happiness and it is precisely this mission that the Gospel of this 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time is about.
What does the apostolate consist of?
“AT THAT TIME, THE LORD CHOSE ANOTHER SEVENTY-TWO DISCIPLES AND SENT THEM OUT TWO BY TWO AHEAD OF HIM TO EVERY TOWN AND PLACE WHERE HE HIMSELF WAS TO GO” (LK 10:1).
Our Lord begins the Gospel by showing what the true role of the apostle is: to prepare souls to receive the Master. This preparation is extremely important in order to avoid any obstacle at the moment of the encounter with the Incarnate Good, and it demands true unpretentiousness on the part of the disciple.
At the same time, this passage shows Christ’s zeal for his disciples, always sending them out in pairs so that, in the midst of the difficulties of working in the world and the onslaughts of the devil, one can always find collateral support.
Quality or quantity?
“AND HE SAID TO THEM, ‘THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL, BUT THE WORKERS ARE FEW. SO ASK THE OWNER OF THE HARVEST TO SEND OUT WORKERS FOR THE HARVEST'” (LUKE 10:2).
In this verse we find an often overlooked principle: quality is better than quantity. This disproportion between the number of missionaries and the souls to be evangelized is a constant in the history of the Church, starting from its very beginning: Our Lord could have chosen 120 apostles, but he preferred 12. Why? Because he knew that a few who give themselves totally were much more useful than a multitude who serve two masters. God’s great acts in history are guided by this principle, since the true apostle is the one who can be counted among these few.
Instructions to those sent
“BEHOLD, I AM SENDING YOU OUT LIKE LAMBS INTO THE MIDST OF WOLVES” (LK 10:3)
Not wanting to raise false hopes about the mission they would carry out, Our Lord warns them about the persecutions they will face, asking them for unconditional trust in his protection, as well as vigilance and sagacity with regard to the attacks of the “wolves”.
“DO NOT CARRY A PURSE OR BAG OR SANDALS, AND DO NOT GREET ANYONE ON THE WAY” (LK 10:4).
In order to warn them of the illusions of the world, Our Lord uses objects representative of the social and financial conditions of the time, to show that his disciples needed to abandon themselves entirely into the hands of Providence, renouncing their excessive preoccupation with the things that bound them to the superfluous concerns that surround human existence.
We also see an encouragement to be vigilant in socializing with people, because, as well as slowing down the fulfillment of the mission to which they were sent, they could be a source of bad influences that would lead them completely astray from the ideal they served.
“BUT WHEN YOU ENTER A CITY AND ARE NOT WELCOMED, GO OUT INTO THE STREETS AND SAY, ‘EVEN THE DUST OF YOUR CITY, WHICH HAS CLUNG TO OUR FEET, WE SHAKE OFF AGAINST YOU’” (LUKE 10:10-11).
In the face of rejection, the apostle cannot remain silent; he must encourage the fear of God, for the prophet says: “Cry out with a loud voice, without constraint; make your voice sound like a bugle. Denounce to my people their faults” (Is 58:1). Rough (and fair) treatment, in these circumstances, is also a form of apostolate, bringing to God through pain those who did not want him through love.
Return of the disciples
“THE SEVENTY-TWO RETURNED OVERJOYED, SAYING, ‘LORD, EVEN THE DEMONS OBEYED US BECAUSE OF YOUR NAME. JESUS REPLIED: ‘I SAW SATAN FALL FROM HEAVEN LIKE LIGHTNING. I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE POWER TO TREAD ON SNAKES AND SCORPIONS AND OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY. AND NOTHING WILL BE ABLE TO HARM YOU. HOWEVER, DO NOT REJOICE BECAUSE THE SPIRITS OBEY YOU. BUT REJOICE BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN'” (LUKE 10:17).
Success is always an occasion for a new temptation: appropriation!
Now, having performed miracles, cast out demons and healed the sick, the disciples could mistakenly think that this power came from themselves, and the initial desire to glorify the Master could gradually be replaced by selfishness. To avoid this evil in the souls of his disciples, Jesus shows them that all those wonders were done in his name and that all the power they had received also came from him, so they had nothing to be proud of, because without Christ they could do nothing.
Then Our Lord points out the sublime cause for which they should truly rejoice – and here we have the main teaching of this liturgy: because they had fulfilled their mission on earth, glorifying the Creator and making sure that this glory was given to as many people as possible, through the collateral apostolate, they were guaranteed true and eternal happiness, because their names were “written in heaven”.
So let’s strive to carry out our apostolate perfectly, so that we can be worthy of such a great gift and live full of joy!
By Artur Morais
[1] ROYO MARÍN, OP, Antonio. Teología Moral para seglares. Madrid: BAC, 1996, v.I, p.29.
[2] Cf. Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiæ, I, q. 5, a. 4, arg. 2: “Bonum est diffusivum sui esse”. In this passage, the Aquinate endorses a quotation from Dionysius.
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
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