First reading Job 42:1-3,5-6,12-17
In dust and in ashes I repent
This was the answer Job gave to the Lord:
I know that you are all-powerful:
what you conceive, you can perform.
I am the man who obscured your designs
with my empty-headed words.
I have been holding forth on matters I cannot understand,
on marvels beyond me and my knowledge.
I knew you then only by hearsay;
but now, having seen you with my own eyes,
I retract all I have said,
and in dust and ashes I repent.
The Lord blessed Job’s new fortune even more than his first one. He came to own fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she-donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters; his first daughter he called ‘Turtledove’, the second ‘Cassia’ and the third ‘Mascara.’ Throughout the land there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them inheritance rights like their brothers.
After his trials, Job lived on until he was a hundred and forty years old, and saw his children and his children’s children up to the fourth generation. Then Job died, an old man and full of days.
Responsorial Psalm 118(119):66,71,75,91,125,130
Let your face shine on your servant, O Lord.
Teach me discernment and knowledge
for I trust in your commands.
It was good for me to be afflicted,
to learn your statutes.
Lord, I know that your decrees are right,
that you afflicted me justly.
By your decree it endures to this day;
for all things serve you.
I am your servant, give me knowledge;
then I shall know your will.
The unfolding of your word gives light
and teaches the simple.
Gospel Luke 10:17-24
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven
The seventy-two came back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name.’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.’
It was then that, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said:
‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
Our Names Written in Heaven
In today’s Gospel, the seventy-two disciples return from their mission filled with great joy. They are amazed by all they have seen and experienced. However, Jesus reminds them that their greatest reason for rejoicing is not what they have accomplished, but that their “names are written in heaven.” As we pray with this passage, let us reflect on what gives us joy. Often, we find joy in our achievements, recognition, or the results of our work. Yet Jesus tells us that our deepest joy comes from the reality that our names are written in heaven, in the heart of God where we belong. Even before we accomplish anything, we are already deeply loved by Him.
Like the seventy-two disciples, Jesus sends us out into our workplaces, neighbourhoods, homes, and parishes to bring His love to others through acts of kindness, forgiveness, honesty and service. Our mission may seem simple, but when we do it in Jesus’ name, it becomes a sign of God’s presence in the world.
Reflective question:
Do I find my deepest joy in what I accomplish, or in knowing that I belong to God?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD
