Will we allow ourselves to be chosen to greet all we meet with peace? Can we move quickly and leave behind the baggage of past arguments?
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 6, 2025
At first, these readings appear to be suitable for priests and Bishops and, certainly, there is a good challenge to people like myself. However, each of us has been baptised into the priestly ministry of Jesus Christ.
The Word today has an important message for each of us in our relations with all the various individuals, groups and institutions we deal with in our daily lives:
“Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you.”
Can we reflect on how we usually greet people? Family members? Strangers? Businesses when we go to shop to buy something? When we attend our school meetings? When we greet our parents or wife/ husband? Are “my” words peaceful?
Greeting someone with peace, first of all, means we are concerned for their welfare. Have society and cultures slowly moved from personal to more transactional relationships?
A challenge to each of us: how transactional or personal are your relationships with family? Is it more about what “I” need, or are we equally concerned about their wellbeing? This will have interesting consequences as robots become more prevalent in society. Perhaps they can be programmed to challenge us: if we speak rudely or give no greeting, they will refuse to work?
In our world today, most of us are so stressed and under pressure that we need instant results from whomever we go to for a service. Normal greetings and pleasantries are reducing over time. And this is happening at many levels of society, even up into politics.
The Gospel has elements of speed, simplicity and directness: take no haversack, greet no one on the road, etc. But for what purpose? To bring the Good News to others: all the instructions are designed by Jesus to minimise attention on the Disciples, themselves, and focus on the mission to bring Good News to those who do not know.
And the Good News is in First reading:
“At her breast will her nurslings be carried and fondled in her lap. Like a son comforted by his mother will I comfort you. And by Jerusalem you will be comforted.”
Although God is neither male nor female, we understand life through these dimensions. So God reveals, here, dimensions of God’s love expressed in the familiar feminine form to encourage us. Hopefully we all had positive experiences with our mothers, at least as small children. Jerusalem is a symbol of the Kingdom of God on earth.
However, Kingdom of God is not something magical but a result of our efforts and God’s grace. When we engage others in personal ways, rather than quick, limited transactional ways, we not only create the Kingdom of God where I live. Then I am able to enter into it and receive the promises offered by God in the First Reading: to be cared for, myself, and to be loved.
I believe, deep down, this is the desire for all people: to be gently loved. However, it cannot be achieved unless we are willing to give something of ourselves to the “other” in order to make room in my life for the love that we anxiously wait for.
This is why it is critical for parents to gradually be demanding more and more of their children to contribute something to the family, according to their age and abilities. In this way, they learn the joy of receiving as a personal sacrifice rather than a series of transaction demands.
We have many conflicts and wars at this time and we seem to lack the ability to dialogue and establish ceasefires. Sadly, in some countries, too many parents argue with the teachers at school when their children are disciplined. This creates stress and encourages students to continue their selfishness. Let’s pray for our teachers and parents.
So, I believe today is a good time to reflect on how we approach people in our everyday lives. Are we personal or transactional? One of the side-effects of moving to more transactional relationships is that we become more isolated and less supported by others. Whereas, friendly relationships of mutual support really express God’s love and support for us.
The sense of urgency in the Gospel reminds us that, we too, need to make haste to make our relationships more personal by visibly caring for the others in our lives: a simple smile, and leave behind the baggage of past “fights” and disagreements.
Jesus “…said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few…” Fr Richard Rohr OFM, talks about this passage as meaning that “few people allow themselves to be chosen.” This week, will we allow ourselves to be chosen to greet others with peace by our words and actions?
By Gerard Conlan, OMI
