Pastor's Column

Jul 16

Written by:
Sunday, July 16, 2006 

15^th Sunday Ordinary Time

July 16, 2006

 

"He instructed them to take nothing for the journey--no food, no sack, no money...so they went off and preached repentance"

                                                                        (from Mark 6:7-13)

 

When travelers are separated from their bags involuntarily, they tend to get very angry.  So it is helpful to remember who Jesus was talking to when he gave these instructions: only his closest disciples.  Some of them had left successful fishing businesses to follow Christ; others, like Matthew, were wealthy. A few were probably quite poor.   Now here they were wandering around the countryside in pairs without even a suitcase!  What demands Christ had made on them!  The key here is that they did this voluntarily.  As the very first missionaries, they were expected to rely on divine providence for everything.   For the rest of us, however, the Lord allows a suitcase or two.

 

          Despite our best efforts, however, we sometimes find ourselves up to our neck in problems and our usual luggage has not arrived with us.  Life not infrequently throws us curveballs that we are more or less unprepared for, for example, the time your child throws up in the supermarket, or you are accused of something you didn't do and no one is buying your explanation, or you get a new boss who doesn't like you, or guests arrive unexpectedly, or you are suddenly taken ill and can't seem to cope.  From the mundane to the serious, the Lord sometimes allows us to be in effect without "money, luggage, or food,"  in other words, without adequate resources.  

         

          One of my favorite books is called Abandonment to Divine Providence by Rev. P. Caussade, S.J.  He relates that the times we are "forced" to rely on Divine Providence are really blessings in disguise.  In fact, even when everything is going as planned, God is still assisting us behind the scenes. The tough spots we find ourselves in, however, can really drive home the point that it is God who really does assist us throughout our lives, who keeps the suitcase full and provides for our needs, even while we work so hard ourselves.  The best way to yield to Divine Providence is by constant prayers of gratitude for everything that happens to us.  It's not the luggage we pack ourselves that gets us through life, but the empty suitcase God keeps filling up along the way that gets us through it!

                                                                             Father Gary