Saturday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
Job 42:1-3,5-6,12-17  +  Luke 10:17-24
October 3, 2020

“… you have revealed them to the childlike.”

It’s rare for Jesus, in any of the four Gospel accounts, to speak directly to God the Father.  Because of this rarity, we ought to privilege those verses where we get to “overhear” Jesus address His divine Father.  We might even consider these verses as models for our own prayers, inasmuch as through Baptism we are adopted children of God the Father.

First, we ought to note the context of Jesus’ words to God the Father.  The 72 disciples have returned to Jesus rejoicing that demons are subject to them because of Jesus’ name.  However, Jesus tells them not to rejoice because of such power over demons, but to rejoice instead because their names are written in Heaven.  Jesus is subordinating the disciples’ ministry—as important as it is—to the relationship that each has with the One Jesus teaches them to address as “Our Father, who art in heaven”.

Also, it’s important to note that St. Luke the Evangelist immediately prefaces the words of Jesus to God the Father with the observation that Jesus “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit”.  This is significant because St. Luke, more than the other three evangelists, stresses the role of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Here, the words by which Jesus praises the Father are spoken “in the Holy Spirit”.  As the Holy Spirit is the love of God the Father and God the Son for each other, so by the Holy Spirit each adopted child of God finds the inspiration to pray to God more fervently and authentically.