Let's welcome Fr. Emmanuel Bekoe to our parishes this weekend, as he is doing Mission appeal in our parishes, I will be doing the weekend masses of St. Patrick parish Onalaska. After that I will be making my pilgrimage of Camino de Santiago in Spain, as we celebrated the feast day of St. James the Apostle on July 25, I will keep you all in my prayers during my pilgrimage in Spain and France. I really appreciate and thank Fr. Kyle & Fr. Biju who will be filling in for me during the four weekends, thanks to our Deacon Edward Wendt who will do communion service during weekdays.

Serving those in need and providing hospitality is considered an important Christian virtue. The readings of today reveal the unique insight of generosity given in hospitality that finds its fulfillment. Hence the central theme of today's Mass is hospitality where a person seeks to discover the divine presence in the other. In general, welcoming a guest was and still is an extremely important obligation of people living in the world. In the Gospel we have Martha, Mary and Lazarus welcoming Jesus to their house and show their hospitality. However, the Lord indicates that such hospitality should be without any anxiety but filled with service and love. The first and the third readings of today are set within the context of ancient near eastern customs of hospitality.

There are many parables that are unique to the Gospel of Luke. The parable of the lost son (Lk 15:11-32), the parable of Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31), the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Lk 18:10-14) are among those that are unique to the gospel of Luke. The parable of the Good Samaritan, that we hear read in the gospel text of today, is also one of them. To get the real message of Jesus in the unique parables of Luke we need to pay attention to the final twist to the story.

The Church, as explained by the Second Vatican Council, is by her very nature missionary, since according to the plan of the Father, she has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of today tells us that Jesus summoned his seventy committed people and sent them two by two to communicate God’s love, to bind up wounds and to be peace makers in a troubled world. The gospel passage describes Jesus sending seventy men for a mission, a wider mission. The number seventy was to the Jews symbolic:

First, it was the number of the elders who were chosen to help Moses with the task of leading and directing the people in the wilderness (Num 11:16-17, 24, 25).