By Akalanka Randeniya
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the great St. Luke the Evangelist, one of the four renowned evangelists who wrote the four holy Gospels. Today, the Gospel is certainly appropriate to our community as we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist about the Lord Jesus sending out His disciples, a total of seventy-two of them, in addition to His twelve, to do their missions and prepare the way and the path for him Jesus gave them the mandate to do what he had come into this world for, to bring us all out of the darkness and from the tyranny of sin. For us as a community who are preparing ourselves to be missionaries for the sake of Jesus this Gospel perhaps portrays what it means to be a missionary and what would be our mission as priests one day.
We should continue to remember that every one of us is part of the same mission and effort of the Church in evangelisation and salvation. Through us and our way of witnessing to our vocation and contributions, we can lead many people closer to God. Our Lord instructed His disciples to go forth and courageously proclaim his message to everyone. Hence as a community who aspire to be disciples of Christ let us all therefore recognise our mission and calling in life to be truly missionary and evangelising in every interaction with one another. At the same time let us thank God for all priests who, like Simion, have given us decades of faithful service. We pray that they may be rewarded for their generosity and self-sacrifice. Let us pray for all priests and missionaries whose hearts are pierced by loneliness, rejection and misunderstanding. Let us pray that missionaries and priests who are experiencing a time of difficulty or even crisis may be renewed in their vocations. As we are pondering on this gospel today try to understand the fact that King David did not need to know Goliath’s strength because he already knew God’s. Nothing you are facing today is stronger than God. God used Goliath to get David to the throne. Your problems, giants are not meant to defeat you. They are meant to promote you. A lot can happen in a month. Trust God. Therefore, as the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist let’s train your mind to hear what God is whispering not what the enemy is shouting. You are currently living at least one of the prayers you used to pray. Reflect on that today. Remember that the moment you pray God sets miracles into motion. Prayer is the weapon and the shield of a missionary and a priest. Therefore, let’s be prepared sincerely for the discipleship of Christ. Let this be our prayer today!