god, the tour guide
"Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out." —Mark 6:7
In Mark's gospel, Jesus sends us out with four things and without four things.
We are to go without taking:
- food (Mk 6:8),
- luggage (Mk 6:8),
- money (Mk 6:8), and
- clothes (Mk 6:9).
We are to go with:
- another disciple (Mk 6:7),
- authority over demons and diseases (Mk 6:7, 13),
- a walking staff (Mk 6:8), and
- sandals (Mk 6:9).
Walking sticks and sandals are ways of improving our transportation as we take the Gospel to the ends of the earth (see Acts 1:8).
When Jesus sends us out:
- we go trusting in God for our daily bread (Mt 6:11),
- we go as brothers and sisters in Him,
- we go "to destroy the devil's works" (1 Jn 3:8), and
- we keep moving (see Mk 6:11).
Most Christians have in abundance those things Jesus tells us we should do without, while lacking the community and the authority the Lord tells us we cannot do without. If we are to go forth in Jesus' name, we need a re-structuring of our lives. Jesus is willing to do it. Will you let it be done? (see Lk 1:38)
Prayer: Father, may I do it Your way.
Promise: "Keep the mandate of the Lord, your God, following His ways and observing His statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn." —1 Kgs 2:3
Praise: At their martyrdom, St. Paul Miki and his twenty-five companions were pierced by a lance, as was their Savior.
Rescript: †Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 8, 2013
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