By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted July 3, 2025

(See the readings for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 52 percent of Americans report that they are usually trying to do more than one thing at a time. Sixty percent feel that they are sometimes too busy to enjoy life. The percentage gets even greater when asking parents of children under the age of 18: 74 percent of this group feels they are sometimes too busy to enjoy life. These numbers are significantly high. It seems like busy-ness is draining joy from life.

The readings for the liturgy this Sunday call us to rejoice and to be joyful. The Gospel account recalls Jesus’ sending 72 disciples on mission and their return. Mission is part of the Christian life. Discipleship entails mission. The mission is to proclaim, in word and deed, the saving activity of God in Christ Jesus.

The importance of the mission is seen in Jesus’ instructions. He first tells them to pray for laborers for the harvest: People to help carry out the mission. We might think of this in terms of priests, deacons and religious but it also includes all the faithful. We are called to pray that all the faithful will take up the call to work in the mission in our everyday encounters.

Then Jesus instructs them to “go,” and go immediately. They are not to be distracted by worldly concerns. “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.” They are to carry the offer of peace. They are to proclaim the Kingdom of God. They are not to be distracted nor disheartened by rejection. The mission is of ultimate import.

When they return, they are filled with joy at all that has been accomplished. Jesus then instructs them: “Behold, I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

The mission is about life, eternal life. The proclamation of the Kingdom is a proclamation of God’s love and mercy. He loves his people and offers them life. This is the source of the greatest joy – for “your names are written in heaven.” The acceptance of God’s love and life is the bedrock for joy. Joy flows from the realization that we are loved by God. God’s love is unshakable and unstoppable. There is no force in this world or beyond that is greater than his love or his power to save.

The first reading from Isaiah contains a similar message of God’s love. Here it is seen in terms of compassion and consolation. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.” The words speak of deliverance. God will deliver his people from oppression and destruction. He will see his city restored and brought to prosperity.

Recognizing God’s saving activity in Christ Jesus, especially in his death and resurrection, reveals the message of this prophetic witness in full light. Jesus takes on suffering and death but in his resurrection the power of these are broken. Perhaps we can hear the call to rejoice in this light: “When you see this, your heart shall rejoice and your bodies flourish like the grass; the Lord’s power shall be known to his servants.”

In the second reading from the Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul speaks of “boasting” in the cross of Christ. The cross is a sign of God’s love in that Jesus gave himself completely in love even to the point of horrific suffering and death. The cross is a sign of God’s power as his love breaks those bonds of death, and with it sin, in the power of his resurrection. His love is more powerful than death.

The study mentioned above seems to indicate that a lot of people in our country feel like the busyness of life is taking away their joy. One way of recapturing that joy, even in the busyness of life, is gratitude.

I recently read an article about a person who was fed up with all the negativity he was noticing in his life. Things were so hectic that his thought patterns often turned to the problems of life. He was getting cynical and did not like it.

To combat this he started writing a list every night of all the things he was grateful for that day. He was amazed at the outcome — the more he realized what he was grateful for, the more he realized how many blessings he had in his life and how good life is, despite the busyness and challenges. If you’re having trouble finding the joy, perhaps this approach might help.

The liturgy this Sunday calls us to rejoice. The gift of God’s love is great. Gratitude brings with it the gift of joy. We can rejoice in his love. The joy helps us to share this love in mission and in doing so, spreads the Good News. As the Good News spreads we can all join together, as we do in our responsorial, and say: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Penndel, and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.