And he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God

Esr 9,5-9; C Tb 13,2.3-4a.4bed.5.8; Lk 9,1-6
25 SEPTEMBER

The Lord’s people awaits that every promise made by God to the Fathers is fulfilled. Jesus came to announce to the children of Israel and to the whole world that every Word of God is being fulfilled in Him. But he is one, only one. It is impossible for him to go to every son of Israel and bring him the good news of the kingdom. Guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and illuminated by the eternal light of the Father, comforted by his advice, always in the Holy Spirit, he multiplies his strengths. He gives the Apostles some supernatural powers and sends them to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to announce the kingdom and to manifest its fruits. With the Word they proclaim that the kingdom of God is present in their midst. With works or miracles they make it visible. Jesus reveals the kingdom with the Word and manifests it in its visibility with the works and so also the Apostles. They are true Word and work of Christ Jesus in the people.

What is said for Jesus and for the Apostles applies to every disciple of the Lord. Everyone, in relation to the sacrament received, must, with different responsibility, announce and visibly manifest the kingdom of God. The best way to reveal the kingdom is a life completely interwoven with obedience to the Gospel. If the Christian wants the whole world to know the beauty of the kingdom of God, it is only necessary for him to live word by word the whole Sermon on the Mount. The life of Jesus is all in that speech. Even on the cross, he never came out of it. He lived it in fullness of truth and justice, of holiness and love, of forgiveness and prayer before the whole world. The centurion saw the kingdom of God on the face of Christ and publicly attested to it. He confessed that Jesus was the true son of God. Obedience to the Gospel really makes the kingdom of God in the world visible. If the body of the Christian does not show the kingdom, his words are vain. There is talk of a non-existent kingdom. Of a distant thing. While the kingdom is near. If it is not near, it is not the true kingdom of God. In the mission to the world Jesus does not give his disciples any supernatural power with regard to miracles. The kingdom becomes visible, living the disciples the whole Gospel and teaching the world that every Word of Jesus can be lived. It can be lived not on theological or scriptural foundations, but because He lives it.

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28,18-20).

The greatest miracle performed by the Christian is his life perfectly in conformity with the Word of the Gospel, according to the truth that, from time to time, the Holy Spirit dictates to the heart. A Christian who lives the Gospel is the greatest miracle of Christ Jesus, of the Father and of the Holy Spirit in history. No miracle is greater than this.

He summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal (the sick). He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

When the Gospel is not lived, it is not even announced. You can repeat a Gospel sentence, but repeating a sentence is not announcement. The announcement is the fruit of the heart, of the soul, of the spirit and of the body. The Word is eaten, it is transformed into our body, soul and spirit. From our heart the Word of the announcement can come out in the same way than the water and the blood of our eternal redemption came out of the heart of Christ. The missionary crisis of our days finds in the non lived Gospel its first cause. Living the Gospel is the true work of the missionary of Christ Jesus. He produces works of salvation and redemption to the extent that he lives the Gospel and announces it.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every missionary always lives the whole Gospel.