The seventy-two disciples return full of joy despite the trouble caused by the cities of Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum. The mission was carried out with dignity, faith and love.

  

The seventy-two disciples return full of joy despite the trouble caused by the cities of Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum. The mission was carried out with dignity, faith and love. They surrendered themselves to the will of God. In the name of Jesus, they were able to defeat evil, freeing people, because Jesus granted them his authority. Evil cannot resist a true disciple, since Jesus Christ identifies himself with the disciple.

2. The enemy of God was defeated by the cross of Christ, so that he no longer has power against God's chosen ones. According to Saint Anthony, the Devil is fierce, but not powerful; he is defeated! The disciple acts with the power of the Master, involved in the same mission, destined for the same people, aiming at the same end: the Kingdom of God. Whoever truly surrenders himself to Jesus Christ, placing himself entirely at his disposal, will not be defeated by evil, but will become a collaborator in the saving mission of the world. 3. The fall of Satan means the victory of the light. The disciple is an instrument chosen by Christ to destroy and free the world from the action of Satan. He who truly places himself at the disposal of Jesus will not be destroyed nor will he allow the world to be a slave to evil. It is true that the world is in darkness, but it is also true that the children of light are still trapped in themselves, still unavailable to the call of the Lord. But when everyone becomes aware of the power of God in their lives and decides for the Kingdom of God, the whole world will be transformed. Darkness cannot withstand the light, and the disciple is "the salt of the earth and the light of the world" (Mt 5:13, 14). 4. The true joy of the disciple is not found in the ease of casting out demons or in the miracles performed, because this would constitute attachment to oneself and personal deification. The disciple must never forget that the power to cast out evil, to heal the sick and to free people comes from God. The joy of the disciple is the certainty that his future already belongs to God, is with Him, because his names are written in heaven. The authentic disciple rejoices in the very fact of being a disciple of the Lord of Life, Truth and Love. Jesus himself said: "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE" (cf. Jn 14:6). 5. Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit and stands before the Father with an extremely filial conscience. He is all for the Father, he does the will of the Father in everything. Because of the Father, he is also all for the human being. In Jesus' prayer, the greatest emphasis is placed on those who are the "little ones" and not on the "learned", on those who could be rejected as insignificant by the world. Jesus knows that he can empower them and he does so with complete freedom and entrusts them with the mission. How good it is to know that the Church, in history, is not the fruit of the arrogant power of the world, but the fruit of the decision of Jesus, who gives it his Holy Spirit, so that it may follow the road that leads to the Father, being empowered by Christ himself.