“Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves...” (Luke 12:3.)
Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel proclamation:
“He says this to the seventy disciples whom he appointed and sent out in pairs before his face. Why did he send them two by two? Pairs of animals were sent into the ark, that is, the female with the male, according to number, unclean but cleansed by the sacrament of the church. Those animals are opposites, so that the one eats the other. A good shepherd does not know how to fear wolves for his flock, and therefore he sends those disciples not against a prey but to grace. The forethought of the good Shepherd prevents the wolves from harming the lambs. He sends lambs among wolves in order that the saying may be fulfilled, “Then wolves and lambs shall feed together.”” (Exposition on the Gospel of Luke, 7.)
Collect
O God,
Who made Your Priest
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
outstanding in love, that
he might proclaim
the mysteries of redemption
and comfort those in affliction,
grant, by his intercession,
that we may work zealously
for Your glory and
for the salvation of mankind.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Who made Your Priest
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
outstanding in love, that
he might proclaim
the mysteries of redemption
and comfort those in affliction,
grant, by his intercession,
that we may work zealously
for Your glory and
for the salvation of mankind.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
