REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

Trust and go! (Fr James McTavish, FMVD)

In my student days I loved to go Inter-railing around Europe. Packing my rucksack and heading off to different European cities by train. I still remember the advice given in my travel guide regarding what to take with you – “After you have packed your backpack take everything out and place it on your bed. Then just take half of it but double the money you think you’ll need!”  Jesus gives similar instructions for the journey and reminds his disciples to travel light! “Jesus instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no bread, no backpack, no money in their belts”. Why no bread? Because the bread they are to bring is the bread from heaven, the Word of God. Man cannot live on bread alone but on every word that comes from God’s mouth. What about the backpack? A backpack can weigh you down so much. What can weigh us down when we go to encounter others is negative thoughts! They can be very heavy. I went to talk to person and the previous time I had spoken to them I found them a little strange and to my opinion a bit rude. I mentioned this to the missionary I was with. He said “Are you still remembering that?” Sometimes we get weighed down by many unnecessary and negative thoughts! Instead Jesus asks us to wear sandals. These are the sandals of eagerness to announce Good News! Love does not keep a record of wrongs, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.

Jesus has such trust in those disciples of his. He sends them out like sheep among wolves. Maybe they  would like to have been wolves among sheep, as it seems they would have had the upper hand! But God’s ways are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts! Trust is vital if the disciples are to accomplish their God given mission. Once there was an alpine mountain climber coming down from the summit after a hard climb. Evening came and soon he was engulfed by darkness. He continued to descend but then came a moment when he could see nothing. He called out to God, “Are you there? Lord save me!” God replied “Cut the rope”. The mountaineerer did not want to. Again God said “Cut the rope. Just trust me”. The next day the rescue party found the man frozen to death dangling from his rope. He was only 1 metre above the ground.

How hard to trust in God sometimes. But have you ever considered how much God trusts you? God trusts his disciples so very much. In every Eucharist, he places his divine life and love in our hands, the Father places his own Son Jesus in our palms. The basis of the commissioning of each Christian in the mission is God’s trust in each one of us. How great to have a God who trusts in us so much. I remember a boss of mine in the hospital who believed in me so much when I was training to be a surgeon. I was learning how to operate. It came to a moment when I had to do my first appendix operation. As I was about to make the incision my boss said, “OK, I know you can do it. I will be in the tea room. Call me if you need me.” Before I could protest he was gone. After the operation, which went smoothly, I was so overjoyed. My boss was waiting for me in the tea room. “I did it! I did it!” I said joyfully. “Of course!” he replied, “I knew you could do it.” How great to be supported by someone who trusts in you and believes in you. Who sees in you abilities which you do not see. This is God our Father with us, who loves us, trusts us and asks us to trust in him.

The basis of the confidence of the Church in her mission does not come from the talents or strength of its members. It comes from the power of the one who sends her and relies on his authority. It is Christ who gives the authority and power to his disciples. Recently I listened to a teenager give a talk on Life with a wisdom that belies her tender 16 years of age. This is the authority that comes from a life of prayer and friendship with Christ. She spoke to a big group of women who were older, sophisticated and better educated. But what wisdom cam from the mouth of this little teenager! A wisdom and authority which comes from the living encounter with Christ. He is the source of “every spiritual blessings in the heavens” (Eph 1,3). When we are open God can fill us with his graces and blessings. We will never lack in the mission especially when we are trying to fulfill God’s will and serve others. He is the one who gives the authority.

“Blessed be God the Father” because he is so generous and wants to equip us for the mission. His goodness is overflowing. Like my mum trying to send me a parcel. The weight limit was 2kg but the parcel was 9kg. It was so full of goodies! This is also God our Father who knows no limits in sharing many blessings with us. He is telling us “Get stuck into the mission! I am with you, I trust you, you will not go short.” We need to trust him! Like the day I went to visit a family. It was a long walk and I was so hungry. When I got there the first thing the family gave me was a piece of delicious chocolate cake! No need to take bread when God provides chocolate cake. How great to remember it is his mission. As the prophet Amos acknowledges in the first reading (Amos 7, 2-15) in the middle of rejection and opposition “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."  Who of us here is worthy of the mission? None of us, it is a gift. So let us clearly recognize like Amos that it is God who calls us and sends us. We go with his authority, his trust and his power. So what are you waiting for? Get stuck in. Trust in God and go!