Rejoice that your names are written in heaven

In this week’s Gospel passage taken from Luke Chapter 10, the seventy two disciples return rejoicing and saying ‘‘Lord, even the devils submit to us when we use your name.’ They experienced the power of Jesus’ name and Jesus affirms their experience by saying ‘Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you.’

I could imagine the sense of power felt by these everyday people—ordinary men and women who had left their homes and followed Jesus with trembling faith. Now, returning from their mission, they were not only witnesses to healing and liberation but participants in it. Their joy was not rooted in pride, but in awe. They had experienced firsthand that when they acted in the name of Jesus, heaven responded.

I think of the simple everyday people who have risen to prominence in the Church. Saints like Mother Theresa, St Martin de Porres, and countless others over the centuries. I reflect on people I have known who embraced the Charismatic Movement and rode its wave, prophesying, healing, speaking to international audiences and casting out devils.

Last Saturday, walking across the courtyard of the Bonnevaux Benedictine monastery, I stopped and looked around at the grandeur of the abbey and it’s grounds. I marveled at God taking this small timid boy from a poor neighborhood, in a small Caribbean island, to stand there in France. I stood in my shoes and I wondered.

I think about you my readers, assured that God has also done marvels in your lives from having served the building of the Kingdom of Heaven. And confident that He hasn’t completed His work in you. I urge you to have courage and fortitude to continue to labour in the vineyards, for even greater success awaits you.

Yet, even in the face of this heavenly power and rejoicing, Jesus gently redirects our joy—not toward the power itself, but toward the deeper truth: “Rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.” Their mission and ours is not about triumph over evil alone, but about belonging to God, and by sharing in the unfolding of His kingdom.

I urge you to continue the good work that you started. And help me build the Kingdom of Heaven through this Ministry of the Word, by sharing and inviting others to subscribe. Please celebrate with me, as we crossed 400 Newsletter posts. And if you can afford to upgrade to a donor.