Seventy Holy Disciples

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Seventy Holy Disciples. The Seventy are those whom the Lord chose in addition to the Twelve Apostles, sending them forth unto the work of preaching. With the passage of time, others were added to their number by the Apostles, who, with the accompaniment and assistance of the Seventy, were preaching the Gospel of Christ in various lands. Although their number eventually exceeded seventy, they were all nonetheless referred to as "of the Seventy" out of reverence for the number of Disciples which the Lord chose. The evangelist Luke describes the calling and the sending forth of the initial Seventy in the tenth chapter of his Gospel.

After the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord, and after Pentecost, on which all the Apostles and men and women disciples of Christ, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary (some 120 in number), were gathered in the upper chamber, they received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and went forth throughout the ends of the world, everywhere preaching and teaching the Gospel of Christ, and leading to the true Faith the peoples who were sunk in the darkness of impiety and idolatry.

Prayer of the Day
Lord God, you called the Seventy Holy Disciples and sent them to carry the good news, strengthened for combat and armed to give you witness. They travelled through nations in your name and called them to the truth. Their preaching called us to salvation. May we keep their teaching in our hearts, remember their precepts in our conscience, and give witness like them in our lives, and we will praise you, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Readings
Psalm 1
Romans 10: 9-15
Luke 10: 1-18