Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves

18 OCTOBER (Lk 10,1-9)

According to the prophecy of Isaiah, in messianic times, the wolf and the lamb shall graze together. This means that there will be a radical, essential change in the wolf’s nature: from a carnivorous to a herbivorous nature. From a nature tearing to pieces to a grazing nature. Instead of feeding on meat it feeds on grass, hay and straw.

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them (Is 11, 6). The wolf and the lamb shall graze alike, and the lion shall eat hay like the ox (but the serpent’s food shall be dust). None shall hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord (Is 65, 25).

However, on wolves, there is also another lesson. their evil nature, which is really bad, because it devours and tears the flesh; is revealed. An always ravenous, hungry nature, always looking for someone to devour.

Her nobles within her are like wolves that tear prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to get unjust gain (Ez 22, 27). Their horses are swifter than leopards And keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour (Hab 1, 8). Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; Her judges are wolves of the night that have had no bones to gnaw by morning (Sof 3, 3).

Jesus sends his disciples as lambs among wolves. Tells them to be wise as serpents, and simple as doves. Announcing the Gospel is a arduous, difficult, humanly impossible mission, just as it is humanly impossible for a lamb live, coexist, stay alive in the middle of a pack of wolves that have eaten nothing, and that are ready to attack any animal that steps before their sight. It is humanly impossible. But not divinely.

After this the Lord appointed seventy (-two) others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’

The mission is divinely possible, because according to the prophecy of Isaiah, the wolf can get converted, redeemed, saved, and return to his God and Lord. Anything is possible by grace. The grace of God can convert even the greatest sinners. Nothing is impossible with God and the missionary of the Gospel must go among the wolves with this conviction of faith, with the power of grace and truth that is in Christ Jesus.

Another truth that must always accompany the missionary of the Gospel is this: his life is all placed in the hands of God, delivered to him entirely. He will be the one to direct, control and guide it. He will be the one to prepare everything in his path. He will always be the one to provide for everything. He must do only one thing: relying totally on his God and Lord. Then, the Lord will be the one to prearrange for him for everything that is his highest good: hunger, nakedness, beatings, stoning, contempt, court, gallows, cross, exile, loneliness, abandonment. Who trusts the Lord knows that all this is for his spiritual growth in faithfulness and in love and for a more effective work in the conversion of hearts. With this faith, the missionary of the Gospel fears neither life nor death. He know how to die and knows how to live only for the Gospel because only the Gospel is his life.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us true servants of the Gospel.