He sent them out

Here is the text of the homily I prepared for this Sunday's Eucharistic celebrations: some thoughts about Jesus' call for all of us to go out into the world to share the good news that we have heard - to tell everyone that we are loved, forgiven and free.

Go: tell the good news

Pope Francis has been travelling this week in South America.  He who was born in Argentina has gone home, almost.  When the Holy Father travels to foreign countries, he sends a telegram to the Head of State of that country as he is entering the territory of that country, even if he is only passing through the airspace above.  On Friday, as his aircraft crossed from Bolivia into Argentinian airspace en route to Paraguay, His Holiness dispatched a greeting to the President of his native country.  It read in part: ... Al sobrevolar la amada patria Argentina para dar comienzo a mi visita pastoral a Paraguay ... (Flying over my beloved homeland of Argentina in order to begin my pastoral visit to Paraguay ...).  In this way, he expressed his abiding love for his homeland, even though he will not be able to stop there on this trip ... so close, and yet so far away.

His Holiness is travelling through Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay in order to do what Jesus asks all his disciples to do.  The gospel passage we have heard today tells us that Jesus sent them out … ordering them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money … and no extra clothing (cf Mk 6:7-8).

On Friday morning, speaking with prisoners at a correctional centre in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), His Holiness introduced himself saying: I am … a man who has experienced forgiveness; a man who was, and is saved from his many sins.  That is who I am, I don’t have much more to give you or to offer you, but I want to share with you what I do have and what I love.  It is Jesus Christ, the mercy of the Father (Speech to prisoners at the Santa Cruz-Palmasola CorrectionalCentre, July 10, 2015).

Every disciple is called to set out on the journey of life, taking nothing extra for our journey, lest it should weigh us down and stop us from recognizing who it is that has sent us out on the journey, lest we become deaf to the voice of the Lord who walks beside us, lest we become blind to the miracles he continues to work in our midst.

Our God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that we need (cf Eph 1:3).  Priests and deacons are called to share this good news by preaching the word of God, a word that we ourselves have heard in prayer, have identified and recognized as a challenge first to our own call to be faithful disciples.  We do this in the midst of God’s faithful disciples, who are also striving every day to live as followers of Jesus: some according to single life, others in faithfulness to a vow that they have taken to be people of prayer and witness, or to their husbands or wives as they strive to be examples of faith for their children.

Human beings find strength in numbers.  Poor Amos must have felt all alone when he first heard God’s call to go … to the land of Judah (Amos 7:12).  I think we all would feel alone if we were to be sent away from our homelands to unknown places.  Thankfully, we have the help of others in our community to support us, to encourage us and to pray for us.  It is fitting that we should also take time to celebrate the examples of faithfulness that help us to live the life of a disciple.

This weekend, two couples in our parish are celebrating 50 years of marriage: Mike and Delma Ketter; and Fred and Shirley Radcliffe.  Let us congratulate them, and in the words Saint Paul wrote to the community at Ephesus, let us thank the Lord for their years together, for their witness of faith and for having chosen us all in Christ … to be holy and blameless before him in love (Eph 1:4).