Friends,
in today’s
Gospel Jesus sends the Twelve on their mission to announce the nearness
of the kingdom. I want to say a few things about our embracing our
mission and being equipped for it.
What
do you need for your mission? You need a keen sense of God as the
absolute center of your life. In a word, you require the spiritual gifts
of piety and fear of the Lord. I realize that these terms can sound
fussy and puritanical, but they are actually naming something strong and
essential.
You
need fear of the Lord, which does not mean that you are afraid of God.
It means that nothing to you is more important than God, that everything
in your life centers around and is subordinate to your love for God.
And your equipping needs to include piety. That means that you honor God
above everything else, that you worship him alone. These spiritual
gifts enable you to find true balance; they allow you to know what your
life is about.
Equipped
with these gifts, you are ready for mission. Having received the fire
of the Holy Spirit, you are ready to set the world on fire.
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 104
Amaziah, priest of Bethel, said to Amos,
“Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!
There earn your bread by prophesying,
but never again prophesy in Bethel;
for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”
Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet,
nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;
I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.
The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,
Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey
but a walking stick—
no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals
but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.”
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
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