There is much art, books and poems centering about the great saint, Francis. However, this Daily Reflection continues commenting and praying with the daily masses of Ordinary Time. I admit that reflecting on the life and spirit of that wonderful saint would be more joyful, perhaps, than writing about those who reject the preaching of the Seventy-two, and are rejected by God and sent down, way down.

In our First Reading from the Book of Job, we hear that Job listened well to the final presentation in the court case between the Creating-God and the suffering Job who had lost so much except faith. WE hear God laying out His evidence and Job convicted and convinced and his final surrender.

Ah, but the Gospel for this liturgy. In the first twelve verses of this chapter, Jesus gives a pep talk and some game-plans for His first big team who will go out and preach what they have heard in their minds and hearts.

They hear, for all their good intensions, they will not all be listened-to nor accepted. He has a comforting few words for what they will do with rejection. Then I picture Jesus, watching them all go off in good spirits, gaze off into their futures and ponder about others before Him who went off in their prophetic spirit and also were not totally heard or accepted.

He muses that if some of the other towns would have heard what these new speakers and doers will say and do, they all would have turned-back, re-pented. It is a hope, a wish, a prediction of how these new prophets will do great and mighty deeds as a sign of the life and mission of their Sender.

Now for my own personal musing which might be a little prophetic and so might be a little-bit rejected or argued-with. Okay, but as He is hoping that what His sent-ones might experience, I might as well by writing the following, hold on and listen, as did Job, as did the six dozen.

What Jesus sends them and us to speak about is not personal reconstruction so we can feel better about ourselves as we advance. (Hold on) I worry that we writers and preachers and those who hear and read the Gospels are tempted to promote “personal behavior” adjustments and so read and listen to the Good News as instructive and indicting about our personal and daily activities. Well that can sound pretty good, Jesus came as a Behaviorist, change your actions and you’ll look a lot like Jesus. That can sound pretty good to.

As a young Jesuit I worked a long time on just such a plan and it depressed me, because it was all about my getting better in my own eyes, my own sense which I then projected onto Jesus. Now I had Jesus over there pointing out my faults and misbehaviors and I assumed He was as disappointed in me as I was about the same “poor me”. I called that, Ignatian Dis-spiritualization. It was and I did never improve by trying to improve. What changed? Jesus’ finger changed from pointing to inviting, “And that has made all the difference.”

I am almost at the end, hang on!  Jesus is sending these men whom we assume have not perfectly self-improved, to live and speak the words of comfort of the loving-creative God Who has sent this comfort into the world in the human flesh of Jesus, Who invites rather than indicts. In short, we change our behaviors from within! The Word is a seed that grows in time and inside and does not constantly self-examines to see if the growth is enough.

The great works of Francis and so many others flow outwards from our spirits, and those outwirdlies are more personal inviting than condemning words of logic and force.

So, this is my story and I’m going to stick living with it!  Happy Feast!