JULY 28th 2013. SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF TIME

GOSPEL: LUKE 11:1-13

From a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio.

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel. 

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GOSPEL:                                     Luke 11:1-13

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished one of his disciples said, 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples'. He said to them, 'Say this when you pray:

"Father, may your name be held holy, 

your kingdom come; 

give us each day our daily bread, 

and forgive us our sins, 

for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us. 

And do not put us to the test."'

He also said to them, 'Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, "My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him"; and the man answers from inside the house, "Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you". I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship's sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.

'So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!'

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD:  Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Kieran’s summary  . . . Luke’s account of the Our Father focuses on the theme of asking for bread. We must ask only for the bread we need today. God wants us to present ourselves before him in a childlike way every day, looking to him for our daily sustenance, not seeking to store up things that would allow us to survive autonomously without him. Jesus then tells a parable about a man who asks for bread on behalf of his friend. This is a role that all of us must assume in life! How many people we meet are starving interiorly! They need the bread of life from Jesus but they do not know what they need, nor who to ask. We must knock insistently on the door of Jesus so that these people we encounter will be fed with real food by Jesus. The world feeds scorpions and serpents, the symbols of evil in the Bible. Only our heavenly Father gives the food that nurtures life. We must continually ask on behalf of others for this food. Finally, Don Fabio emphasizes the plural nature of the Our Father. All of the petitions are in the plural. We do not approach God in an individual, egoistic way, but as a community and through his Son. To the extent that the Our Father is prayed only for my daily needs, then it is a sterile prayer. To the extent that it fails to ask for bread for others then it is an empty exercise. 

Luke’s account focuses on the theme of daily bread

This Sunday the Church proclaims the version of the Our Father as found in the Gospel of Luke. Luke’s version is simpler and more stark than the version found in Matthew’s Gospel, but the sense of the prayer is absolutely the same. It is not the exact wording that counts, but the spirit of the prayer. Jesus is telling us to pray in this manner, not to use a fixed formula like “abracadabra” or “open sesame”. All of us when we pray are prone to moments of distraction when the words we say are little more than babble. It is not the words that count, ultimately, but what our hearts are expressing when we pray.

The passage in which Luke gives his version of the Our Father focuses on the theme of our daily bread. Jesus tells the story of someone who manages to obtain bread for a friend by the insistence of his pleas. Then Jesus goes on to speak further on the theme of food, comparing the good food provided by a loving father with another type of food that no father would offer his children. There are many other aspects to this passage, but we will focus on the theme of bread.

We should only ask for what we need today, not what we need for all days. The Lord wants us to enter into a continual daily relationship where we look to him as a Father

“Give us this day our daily bread”. We should ask only for the bread that we need on this particular day, not the bread that we need for all days to come. When the people of Israel were being formed into the people of God during their time in the desert, they were fed manna from heaven on a daily basis. Manna was bread for this day only, and it was a waste of time trying to store it because it quickly went mouldy. It is essential in the Christian life to distinguish those things that are not to be done once only. We must learn to have a daily relationship with God. God rejoices in being our father, in satisying us on a continual basis. He longs for us to present ourselves before him every day, ready to receive the good things that only he can give.

We must continually ask Jesus to give the bread of life to the people we encounter who are in need. Often these people are not in a position themselves to ask Jesus for life. They do not know what they need or where to turn. We must ask for them.

Then the text goes on to speak of the man who pleas for bread for a friend who has arrived unexpectedly after a long journey. The notion of friendship is very important in the parable. The man pleas for bread from a friend on behalf of another friend. The second man does not respond immediately in friendship, but then he relents. What is the significance of this story? It often happens that we encounter others who have arrived at a certain point in their journey and their interior person is starving to death. People come to us many times and they need that special word of life that I cannot give. I must knock at the door of my friend Jesus, and I must knock with insistence. The person that I am interceding for has need of my mediation. For whatever reason they are not in a position themselves to knock at the door of Jesus and enter his house. Jesus has the bread of life. I must ask Jesus to give it to me for that person who is before me and who is in need. We must take on this role of knocking continually on the door of Jesus, pleading on behalf of our friends who are in need. I do not have a decent bread to give to my friends. I must ask Jesus for the food that is better.

The Our Father is a sterile prayer if prayed in an egocentric way. It must be prayed in the plural.

The Our Father is not to be prayed for egoistic purposes! We must pray it so that others too will obtain their daily bread! We must ask on behalf of others for that which is not a scorpion nor a serpent but real food. How often people come to us who have lived up to now on a diet of scorpions and serpents! The scorpion and the serpent are symbols of evil. Scripture tells us that the disciples of Jesus trample scorpions and serpents underfoot. The egg, instead, is a symbol of life, and the fish is a symbol of the Risen Jesus. One of the salient features of the Our Father is that it speaks always in the plural. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive others. Do not abandon us to evil. We encounter the Father as a community not as an individual. Only Jesus has a unique relationship with the Father. My relationship with God is through him and with others. The feast we enjoy with the Lord is either open to everyone or it is not authentic at all. The Our Father, in fact, is a sterile prayer if it is not prayed in a way that battles against our tendency to relate to God in an egocentric way. If we pray the Our Father in such a way that we fail to ask for bread for others then we are wasting our time. How many people pray and pray and pray, but the prayer is being consumed by their own egos! Even the things that are holy can become the food of our own vanity. It is critical that we pray as “We” and that we ask for bread for our friends. It is essential that we knock with insistence on the door of the Heavenly Father, so that he will open the door and give us this bread for ourselves and others.

Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2013

JULY 21st 2013. SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
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Don Fabio's homily follows the Gospel.
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GOSPEL:                                     Luke 10: 38-42

Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha who was distracted with all the serving said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.' But the Lord answered: 'Martha, Martha,' he said 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.'

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Kieran's summary . . . This Gospel presents us with two radically different ways of living out our Christian vocation. One is the right way, and the other is a way that appears right but is far from it. Mary places herself at the feet of Jesus and listens to him. This is the perfect attitude of a disciple. It is not what we can do for Christ but what he can do for us that matters. Once we have listened to him and received his love, then we are in a position for fruitful activity and our Christian mission. Martha, by contrast, engages in a flurry of activity without ever trying to discern what it is that Jesus wants to accomplish in her. This frenzy of activity is too often the way of many Christians who talk a lot about God but rarely talk to God. How many Christians consume themselves in commendable projects but fail to devote themselves to the task that Jesus wants them to devote themselves to, such as their children, their spouses or their parishes! This is the classic strategy of the tempter: not to make us opt for evil, but to distract us from the good that had been entrusted to us with other good projects that are not ours to do at all. Mary chooses the better part, which is to put her relationship with Jesus first. The good activity that will flow from this relationship will be a thousand times more fruitful than the good things we try to accomplish on our own without placing ourselves first at the Lord's feet. 

Sometimes it is the doing of good things that prevents us from doing the greater good.

This Gospel passage presents us with the problem of the anxieties and preoccupations that oppress us on a daily basis. What is the root cause of the fact that we allow these things to weigh on our souls? In the passage, Martha is like Atlas who has taken the weight of the world on his shoulders. She has become completely distracted with the business of welcoming Jesus. What is it that is causing anxiety in the heart of Martha? It is interesting to note that it is not something evil in itself. Sometimes we think the world can be divided into good and evil, and if someone is doing something that is not evil then (we mistakenly think) it should not create an obstacle to his relationship with Jesus. Martha is doing something that seems highly commendable. She is engaging in acts of service for Jesus. But very often it is acts such as these, that seems highly commendable in themselves, that cut us off from the greater good. Jesus says, "Martha, you worry about many things, but few are needed, indeed only one". It is not possible to do everything that we might want to do. It is not possible to be in more than one place at the same time.  There are many good things that we can do, but only a single present moment in which to do them. And usually there is only one single thing that I as an individual am called to do in that moment. When we embrace a vocation, it is not simply because that vocation involves doing a particular thing that is good. There are many goods that can be done and many vocations that can be followed. The reason that I pursue my vocation is because it is mine. It is the road that I have been called to follow.

We have been entrusted with a mission to realize a particular good. The strategy of temptation is often to distract us from that good with the frenzied attempt to achieve other goods.

Martha is someone who has been overtaken by the demands of the present moment and has lost sight of her priorities. She has allowed the immediate demands of the situation to have a greater urgency than the things that have been entrusted to her as a person. Her priority should be to try to discern her own unique role among things, instead of allowing anxious events to dictate that role to her. The fundamental strategy of temptation is to take the human being away from what is good, and that is not such a difficult thing to achieve. It is sufficient to distract the person with another good. When a person is doing something constructive, that does no harm to anyone, then he tends to think that he has resolved the problem of the meaning of his existence. All of us fall into this trap regularly. But just because we are doing something that is not bad does not mean that we are doing what is truly ours to do! As Jesus says in the Gospel, "Only one thing is needed".

Mary sits at Jesus feet and listens. This is the classic position of the disciple. Martha takes up another position with respect to Jesus, and it is not the position of discipleship.

The text does not go into details, but Martha is probably doing various acts of service for Jesus. Mary, instead, places herself at the feet of Jesus and listens. This is the classic position of the disciple. Martha takes another stance towards Jesus which, whilst not being wrong in itself, is nevertheless not the correct attitude of the disciple. This scenario allows us to elucidate a principle that is extremely important. When Jesus is around, we must not be preoccupied with what we can do for Jesus, but with what he can do for us! Activity and mission come later. First of all we must place ourselves at the source and fountain of activity and mission. Between Jesus and me there is a relationship of master and disciple, of Lord and the devoted subject who belongs to him. He is my Lord and there can be no other relationship between us. Anything that I do for him must derive from this relationship. 

Our lives are often in disarray because we prioritize the wrong goods. Often we consume ourselves with commendable projects whilst neglecting our spouses, our children, our flock!

Very often our lives are in disarray because we place ourselves in the wrong position with respect to life. We assume roles and activities that are not ours. In general, the people on this earth who are in the places that they ought to be and are doing the things that they ought to be doing are relatively few. These are the people who have chosen the better part, the part that will never be taken from them. Most of us take a thousand parts that are not the part of the disciple and that will be stripped away from us in a thousand ways. The battle that confronts us every day is the challenge to remain steadfastly in our places. When we stay in our proper place we are accompanied by grace. When we start to go our own way then we are on our own; we are doing that which has no permanent value and which will be taken away from us. And this is true even for those in church ministry. Lots of people want to do various good projects, but it is not the good that has been entrusted to them. How many men and women are engrossed in commendable projects but fail to look after their own children adequately! Our priority is to learn to live in our own shoes, be ourselves in the presence of God, and appropriate the part that is ours alone.

Acts that spring from authentic discipleship are of a different sort than acts undertaken on our own initiative

This text is a wonderful key to open the secret of how we ought to live our mission. We have a duty to nurture our interior spiritual lives. How many people are unable to rest without doing or worrying about a million different things! This summer presents us with a perfect opportunity for placing ourselves in silence at the feet of Jesus. Too many people are overly active and pray hardly at all. Too many people have a multitude of contacts but virtually no contact with the Lord. Many people talk a lot about God but fail to take the time to talk to God. There is a sacred uselessness about Mary, a holy inactivity that will become the fountain of authentic action springing from the fact of being loved by Jesus. Many acts of service fail to spring from love, fail to spring from having sat in front of Jesus. Acts that arise from this relationship with Jesus are of a different sort altogether. They are solid, based on a genuine foundation, and are directed towards a sure end. The Lord gives us a stark warning in the words that he addresses to Martha. 'You worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one." It is vital that we extract ourselves from the many good things that weigh on our souls and choose instead the better part, the single thing that is essential for our salvation: placing ourselves as disciples at the feet of Jesus.

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Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2013

JULY 14TH 2013. FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio's homily follows the Gospel.

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GOSPEL:                                Luke 10: 25-37

There was a lawyer who, to disconcert Jesus, stood up and said to him, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the Law? What do you read there?' He replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself'. 'You have answered right,' said Jesus 'do this and life is yours.'

But the man was anxious to justify himself and said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbour?' Jesus replied, 'A man was once on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of brigands; they took all he had, beat him and then made off, leaving him half dead. Now a priest happened to be travelling down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite who came to the place saw him, and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan traveller who came upon him was moved with compassion when he saw him. He went up and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He then lifted him on to his own mount, carried him to the inn and looked after him. Next day, he took out two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper. "Look after him," he said "and on my way back I will make good any extra expense you have." Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the brigands` hands?' 'The one who took pity on him' he replied. Jesus said to him, 'Go, and do the same yourself'.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Kieran's summary . . . We sometimes read this parable as if the intention were merely to highlight the meanness and selfishness of the priest and the Levite. But the intention of the parable is more profound. Jesus directs the story at a doctor of the Law, someone who would have appreciated perfectly that the Law had placed an absolute prohibition on priests (and Levites) from approaching a man who was already half-dead. The Samaritan is someone whose action towards others is not constrained by rules and preconceptions. Often we abide by a worldview or a philosophy that effectively prevents us from following Jesus. Our habitual actions and mental schemes can prevent us from loving others in a genuine way. The parable should prompt us to examine the barriers we erect around ourselves that stop us from following the way of the Lord. The stricken man was "untouchable" for the priest and the Levite. What is "untouchable" for me? The Samaritan used his oil, wine and money to help the man. In the same way, the Lord is calling all of us to reevaluate how we use our worldly goods. Like the Samaritan we must go beyond the Law; we must go beyond what we usually consider to be the purpose of our worldly possessions. We must consume what we have in the service of others.

This parable is not so much interested in revealing who my neighbour is as it is in showing what it is to BE a good neighbour.

Jesus gives a clear reply to the doctor of the law who asks what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. One must simply love God and neighbour. The doctor, however, wants to complicate matters. He seeks a way of avoiding the crystal clear obligations that have been placed before him.  So he asks, "Who is my neighbour?" Jesus replies by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. The real problem, however, is not trying to understood who our neighbour is. The real problem confronting the doctor of the law is that he has not made a serious effort to follow the will of God. The parable of the Good Samaritan is not so much directed to revealing who my neighbour is as it is a parable designed to show that it is following the will of God that matters.

The priest and Levite represent the way that we "love" our neighbour when we remain within our preconceived schemes and habitual way of doing things.

It is important that we not read the parable in over simplistic or sentimental terms. A man is robbed and beaten up on the road to Jericho. As he lies half-dead on the side of the road, a priest passes him by without stopping to help. A Levite does the same thing. This prompts us to ask why they refused to come to the man's aid. We are inclined to react by saying, "How mean and selfish they were!" But a more mature reading of the parable takes into account the cultural context in which the story is set. Priests and Levites were absolutely forbidden by the Law to touch the dead. Death was considered incompatible with God. When Ezekiel wished to emphasize the shocking way in which the temple had been profaned, he merely had to say that he saw corpses in  the sanctuary. The Books of Exodus and Leviticus state that whoever is of God must have nothing to do with death. Sin led to death, so death was an expression of our distance from God. The priest represented the reconciliation of God and man and had the duty of offering sacrifices. The Levite's job was to serve the priest. The Law therefore was very clear in prohibiting the priest and Levite from approaching a man that appeared to be dead or dying. It is too simplistic to read this parable and dismiss them as being "mean" or "selfish". They were firmly bound by their obligations to the Law.  The Law can do nothing other that state what is the case. It can say "What you did is wrong", but it cannot bring about salvation in itself. Remember, Jesus is telling this story to a doctor of the Law. This doctor would have been well aware of what the Law stipulated, but Jesus is telling him that he must go beyond the Law if he wishes to be saved.

In order to love we must go beyond our preconceptions, our comfort zone, our fear of the "untouchable"

The Samaritan is then introduced into the story. The Samaritans, for the Jews, were heretics. They were those who had distorted the Law. We are told that this Samaritan was a "traveller". He is someone who is on a journey and has a definite destination. The Samaritan sees the stricken man and is filled with compassion. He approaches him and pours oil and wine on his wounds. These elements are highly significant. Oil is the symbol of blessing and consecration in the Old Testament. Wine is at the centre of the Paschal liturgy. These holy things should not be placed in contact with death, according to the attitude of the Law, but here they are applied to the wounds of a half-dead man. And this is the point. The Samaritan goes beyond the stipulations of the Law. It is not possible to love within the parameters of the Law. It is not possible to care for humanity within the parameters of the Law. It is Jesus, ultimately who is the true Good Samaritan. He is the one who thinks differently and defies all expectations placed on him from the perspective of the Law. The Samaritan uses the things that he possesses, oil, wine and money, to bring about good, to effect salvation. This is what Jesus wishes to teach us with this parable: that we must go beyond the Law, that we must shatter our customary worldview, that we must give of ourselves in order to love. Is it ever possible to love truly without going beyond our own comfort zones? Is it ever possible to do an act of genuine compassion without infringing on something that we once considered to be untouchable?

My preconceived ideas and rules of behaviour prevent me from following Jesus, they prevent me from following the way of love.

This is not to say that rules are of no use; it is simply to recognize that there is a rule that transcends all other rules: the rule of compassion. This rule, in fact, gives senses to all other rules. The fulfilment of the Law, after all, is love. In order to love another person, we cannot be bound by taboos, by schemes, by stipulations. Very often the rules that I subscribe to prevent me from loving; they prevent me from following the Lord Jesus. Very often the rules that I follow in order to give myself a sense of self-security become prison walls that prevent me from being able to love.

The parable reveals that our worldly goods are destined to be used in acts of love.

This Gospel encourages us to enter into the very logic of salvation. The Samaritan discovers why he has oil in his possession: to give relief to the stricken. He discovers why he has wine: not to drink but to disinfect the wounds of the afflicted. Why do I have worldly goods? Why do I have money? In order to love. This is the surprise of this parable. It challenges us to go beyond our preconceptions. I believed that my worldly goods were destined for another purpose, but now I know what the Lord intends me to do with them! Let us be transported by this Samaritan to a new way of thinking about things; to a new way of using the things that we possess. The Samaritan shows us that the things we believe we knew must in reality be learned from scratch.

Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

July 7th 2013. Gospel: Luke 10:1-12; 17-20

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio's homily is not available yet for translation. What follows (after the Gospel) is a homily he gave a couple of years ago on the same theme.

GOSPEL:                                Luke 10:1-12. 17-20 

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, "Peace to this house!" And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house. Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you. Cure those in it who are sick, and say, "The kingdom of God is very near to you". But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, . "We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near." I tell you, on that day it will not go as hard with Sodom as with that town.

The seventy-two came back rejoicing. 'Lord,' they said 'even the devils submit to us when we use your name.' He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.'

THIS IS THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

SUMMARY OF THE HOMILY

This Gospel contains a manifesto for Christian missionary activity. By virtue of our baptism we have all been given a particular mission by Christ, and this mission includes every word that we say and every action that we undertake. Before embarking on any course of action, we must ask if it derives from my relationship with Christ, or if it comes solely from me. The Gospel contains detailed instructions on how we are to carry out our mission:

1. Our actions must be grounded in Christ; 

2. They must be carried out in communion with the Church;

3. They give us power over the one who seeks to destroy communion and tries to sow divisions/compromises/ambiguities within each of us;

4 To be missionaries we must simply be missionaries - no equipment or resources are essential; 

5 We must wear the single garment that is our Christian identity and never exchange it for any other garment.

The homily now follows . . . 

All of our actions must be measured against a simple standard: Do they originate in our relationship with Christ

Sunday's Gospel passage recounts how Jesus sent his disciples out on mission. We shouldn't read this text as if it were just an interesting description of the mission of the apostles. Mission is an intrinsic part of the life of every baptized person, and this text must be read as if it were spoken directly to each of us.

 The first important point to be drawn from the text is that Jesus calls the disciples to himself and then sends them out on mission. Mission is something that has its source in Christ, not in us. Many of the things that we do, originate in our own designs, plans, or instincts. And the things that come purely from us also finish with us. But things that derive from our relationship with Christ have influence that goes far beyond the immediacy of what we do or say. We should be extremely fearful of things that do not originate solidly in our relationship with Christ. Everything that we do or say, or omit to do, must be evaluated against that standard.

 How can we know if our actions truly have their origin in Christ? The first thing is simply to ask ourselves each time we do or say anything: "Does this originate in my relationship with Jesus?" This simple habit provokes the kind of self-awareness that leads to wisdom, enabling the person to distinguish between acts that stem from Jesus or simply from us. But if one does not even bother to ask this question then one will never attain the capacity for discernment. 

Christian missionary activity is not individualistic. It must be done in communion with the Church and others

Jesus calls the disciples to himself and sends them out in twos. Christian mission generally does not involve solitude. There are many reasons why it is better to go on mission in twos, and these have been highlighted by the fathers of the church and others. But the principle reason is that of communion. "Where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them". To work in twos means to avoid the self-deception of being autonomous. It means to work in a context in which each one is encouraged, constrained and measured by another.

Working in communion with others gives power over the devil, who seeks to destroy communion

Working in pairs in this way, according to the text, gives the disciples power over unclean spirits. What does this mean? It means that this communion of discipleship gives power over that which seeks to destroy communion. The Holy Spirit is the one who creates communion and the devil is the one who destroys it. In fact, the word "diabolic" originally means "he who divides". The one who is in communion has power over that which seeks to destroy our communion with God and with our neighbour; namely, the spirit of impurity, that leads us to ambiguities and compromises within ourselves. Discipleship, then, involves communion with the church and with others, and gives the power to confront the personal principle of evil in the world.

 The mission of the church is not just some activity that gives us consolation or meaning. It is a project against the origin of evil itself. Our baptismal calling involves a communion with Christ that entails engaging in a battle against that which leads to unhappiness in the world. The Gospel passage then goes on to give some important instructions about how we should embark on this mission.

To be a good missionary, a person must simply be grounded in Christ. Material resources, techniques and structures are secondary

The missionary is not to take purse, haversack or sandals. These objects represent all of the supports that we have in this world. In order to complete our mission none of these things are essential. This instruction of Jesus is striking! Often when we embark on pastoral projects the first thing we think of is monetary and material resources. According to our modern criteria, Jesus would have been a hopeless organiser of pastoral initiatives! When Jesus sent people on mission he asked simply that they be missionaries, not that they be furnished with the materials "necessary" for mission. This is a very important point. In order to be a good father or mother, the essential thing is to be a good father or mother, not merely to have all of the material things that are useful for parenting. To exercise the priestly ministry well, similarly, one must simply be a good priest. The structures and techniques that complement good parenthood, or good priestly ministry, are important, but one must first have the essential characteristic that gives value to everything else.

Reception and rejection of the Gospel

What a marvellous text with which to contemplate the nature of our mission as Christians! We are told to stay in a house in a given district until our work is finished in that area. This refers to the fact that our missionary work should not lead us to have transitory or fleeting relationships with people, but we should remain in communication with people for as long as the Lord decrees is necessary. Sometimes, even pastorally, we jump from one relationship to another without ever really engaging in serious communication with people.

 The Gospel passage also deals with the theme of the rejection of the Gospel. When someone rejects the Gospel then this is something that must be acknowledged and accepted. The shaking off of the dust from one's feet is not an act that needs to be physically carried out. It is a symbolic act whereby we acknowledge that the Gospel has been rejected and we move on.

A Christian who accepts his mission can bring about conversion and change of heart. The various orders that Jesus gives in this passage are a veritable course of formation in Christian mission. What a beautiful mandate from Jesus! By following these instructions we are given authority over unclean spirits and attain the power to heal humanity of the illnesses that obstruct our conformity to Christ. What great things we are called to do as part of our wonderful faith!