During
the last few weeks we have heard how God called some of the Old Testament
prophets and how the people responded to them. Sunday's readings are about being chosen and
sent. The prophet Amos was chosen by the
Lord and sent to use his talents for the people of God. God
called his messengers and sent them among the people to deliver the message of
salvation. The Gospel today recounts the
story of the sending of the twelve apostles out to preach to the people and
cure their illnesses.
We hear
in the Gospel Sunday: “He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a
walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts.” How different we are from the Apostles who
took nothing when they ventured out to serve God. Today, we make our journey through life more
difficult because of all the material baggage that we drag along. Yet, the more we can let go of, the freer we
are to serve God with love and joy.
When Jesus sent out the twelve apostles
he acknowledged that some people would resist the Gospel message. It is natural to feel
some resistance to a message that is as counter-cultural as the stewardship way
of life. We need to be patient, yet persistent, in first embracing stewardship
in our own lives, and then encouraging others to do the same. Above all we need to pray about it.
In the
second reading, St. Paul reminds us that we, too, are chosen. For what have I
been chosen? To whom have I been sent? Our
salvation history is summed up in St. Paul’s message to the Ephesians. God chose us and poured out his grace that we
might believe in Christ and receive redemption through his blood. May we receive from God with extreme
gratitude and share with neighbor in absolute love.
Our
bishops wrote in Stewardship: A
Disciple’s Response: “Participation in the Church’s mission takes different
forms according to people’s different gifts and offices, but there is a
fundamental obligation arising from the sacrament of Baptism: that people place
their gifts, their resources – their selves – at God’s service in and through
the Church.”
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