Does emotional baggage weigh you down?

In today’s first Scripture, Amos was a most reluctant prophet.  God called him through the high priest Amaziah.  Amos initially resisted God’s call saying he was a simple shepherd.  He did not have any qualifications.  God had seen something in the prophet that he did not see in himself.

I wonder what God sees in each one of us as we are called to evangelize – to be spirit-filled evangelizers.  As we resist God’s call like Amos, my hunch God sees something in us.  May we heed the words of the psalmist and listen to what God proclaims to us.

In the Gospel, Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them 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 the belts.”

In this Gospel, Jesus’ mission becomes the mission of the Twelve -- and our mission.  Jesus’ instruction to the Twelve are his instructions to us as well.

A key word in the commission of Jesus to his apostles is baggage.  What is our baggage?  Jesus is calling us to a Gospel simplicity -- possessions are not to weigh us down or to keep us from being dependent on God’s providence.

In the first week of May, 42 of us pilgrims walked 70 miles of the El Camino in Northern Spain to the great Cathedral of St. James in Santiago.  This pilgrimage challenged us to a simplicity of lifestyle.  We had no extra baggage.  The El Camino is a wonderful metaphor for the pilgrimage of life.  Extra baggage can give us the illusion of independence but what it does is it keep us from relying more fully on the grace of God.

At first glance, the Gospel seems to be referring only to physical baggage.  As the airlines charge a bit extra for additional baggage, Jesus is saying that that baggage can give us a false sense of trust and make us less reliant on our real source of energy -- the grace of God.

I would have also consider the emotional baggage that can too easily weigh us down and keep from a simplicity of lifestyle Jesus calls us to.  This isn’t the baggage that you can pay a little extra and have it checked so you don’t have to worry about it when traveling.

What is your baggage?  What emotional baggage do you carry around that is not of the missionary spirit Jesus calls us to?

n  Hurts from a significant relationship.

n  Judgments you make about other people

n  Fears that keep you confined to a safe comfort zone.

In praying over this Gospel, all of us need to do an inventory of emotional baggage that weighs us down.  We need to pray for the grace of healing memories that keep us from being more free?

We need to let go of any baggage that keeps us from recognizing the dignity of the person in front of us. Theodore Roosevelt said:  “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  Pope Francis comes to mind as he now journeys in South America.  Pope Francis cares about the sick, the young, and the elderly.  He shows himself to be a man of God.

The commission of Jesus to his apostles tells them what not to bring but also what they are to bring in announcing the Good News of the Gospel.  Jesus sent them out two by two.  They were not   to be lone rangers.  They were to companion one another on the journey and be companioned by others.

Jesus has not sent us alone.  Jesus has given the community of the Church of the Holy Spirit.  We are meant to rely on one another so as not to be distracted by our belongings, by our stuff.  Many of us have more stuff than we need.  I count myself in this number.  Our stuff can certainly be a distraction from the ministry of evangelizing.

Jesus wants his disciples to rely on one another rather than vast and mighty possessions.

A story is told among the peoples of South India about a wealthy landowner who had four very quarrelsome sons.  Jealous of one another, they were constantly at odds, much to the chagrin of their father.  When he sensed his death was near, the father called his sons and divided his property among them.  They he called for some sticks to be brought, tied tightly in a bundle, and told each of the sons to try to break the bundle.  Not one could do it.  Then, the father asked for the sticks to be taken out of the bundle.  “Try now,” he said, and with little effort, they could break each single stick.  Thus the father taught the brothers that strength comes from unity:  United they would stand, but divided, each would fall.

Jesus gives us the same message.  Our strength in proclaiming the Gospel comes when we are a community of faith with the same mission.  Yes, each of us has our own uniqueness, our own spirituality, and our own craziness.  But we will discover the life of the Risen Christ when we come to come together as a community of faith to the Eucharistic table to be fed and nourished as the Table of the Lord.