By Times of Malta
14th Sunday in ordinary time, Cycle C. Today鈥檚 readings: Isaiah 66:10-14c; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-9 A travelling circus was visiting a town in Denmark. While it was still being set up and preparing for its first performance, a fire broke out. The circus manager, desperate, sent the clown, already in full make-up and costume, to alert the nearby villagers. The more the clown pleaded with the villagers, the more they laughed and congratulated him on how well he played his part. His efforts were all in vain. In no time the fire spread and destroyed the entire city. In his book Incarnate: The Body of Christ in an Age of Disengagement, Michael Frost insists there is no other way for mission to be done except in a concrete and embodied way, especially in this virtual age. Frost insists that the gospel passage we have in front of us today puts the emphasis on the communities where God is already at work. In other words, rather than perceiving mission as a kind of outreach, where we try and draw people to the Church, as one would try and attract people to a club, the mission that Jesus gives the 72 is one to discern what God is doing ahead of us in our communities. Rather than asking what we should do, the question is how are we going to join with what God is already doing before us in our communities? We can only bring good news to others if we, in turn, are ready to receive the good news from them. This requires from us a sense of humility and vulnerability. Our towns and villages have become one urban city, with diversity and pluralism becoming the order of the day. Never has the mission of the 72 become so urgent and welcome an opportunity to build the Body of Christ among us. carlo.calleja@um.edu.mt