Jesus wants his disciples to trust in Him and to companion one another.

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.

The question Amos then faced was he open to trusting in the Lord? What steps did he need to take to more fully rely on the Lord?  Yes, Amos embraced the call of God in his life, and he became a fearless prophet.

I wonder what God sees in each one of us as we are called to evangelize – to be in the words of Pope Francis’ spirit-filled evangelizers.  Do we resist God’s call like Amos? My hunch is God sees something in us.  Are we open to relying on God’s grace working is us?  Our Gospel question is what steps do we need to more fully rely on the Lord?  This is a most important question we need to ask ourselves.

This October, seven of our parishioners including myself are going on pilgrimage to Tanzania.  We are visiting and supporting and praying with the great ministry of Father Damien Milliken and the religious sisters headed by Sister Evetha who teach in the Catholic girls high school in a region of Tanzania that is deprived of many of the comforts of life we take for granted.  Our parish under the leadership of Jack and Mary Skvorak and Lori Mahar have been generously tithing to provide educational opportunities for these high school girls for a number of years.

I am finding step by step that this is quite a process to get ready for our trip.  We need to make an appointment with Passport Health connected with the Medical Center of the U of R to get the proper inoculations to ward off malaria and other diseases.  We need to get a visa to enter into Tanzania; provide for travel insurance; special clothing to protect you from insect bites, and so on and so on.  In a word, it’s a bit of a process.

Now I invite you to touch into my confusion as I pray over this Gospel.  Listen again:  “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 f or the journey but a walking stick.”

Apparently Jesus wasn’t sending his disciples into Tanzania.  How am I to understand this Gospel?

How about us when we sometimes pay an extra baggage fee to accommodate all of our belongings?

In the journey of life, a key word in the commission that Jesus gave his apostles and in the commission Jesus gives to us 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.  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.   Jesus is saying 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 us also to consider the emotional baggage that can too easily weigh us down and keep from a simplicity of lifestyle Jesus calls us to.  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.”   

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 faith community of St. Joseph’s.  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.

What motivates to be a parishioner of Sr. Joseph’s?  What do you get and what do you give as a member of St Joseph’s.  Our parish mission is the mission given to us by Jesus.  We are to be the sacrament of God’s love in the town of Penfield and in the surrounding communities.  We are to be the witnesses of the merciful love of Jesus to one another and to all.

Jesus sends us out two by two to carry on his mission of love and mercy and forgiveness.  Our relationship with one another is to help us deepen our relationship with the Lord.  Belonging to our faith community is all about the ways we together encounter the Lord in our lives.

Again, in sending us forth Jesus told us what to bring and what not to bring.  We are not to bring an excess of baggage in terms of rules, regulations, programs, stuff, and physical belongings.  What we are to bring is each other.  We are to be a family, a community of brothers and sisters who lift each other up.

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.

Have a Blessed Day,