July 6 — Lk 10:1-12, 17-20
This week’s Gospel most often turns our minds to consider vocations, with Christ saying, “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
This command of the Lord’s is certainly important for us to hear; we always stand in need of young people who look out into the harvest of the world and let the master of the harvest move them to offer their lives in gathering it. Nevertheless, there is another lesson present in this Gospel passage that is of the utmost importance to all of us in our pursuit of heaven.
Throughout this passage, Christ orders his disciples to accept what is given to them. As they go on their mission, they are to carry nothing of their own, “no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” They are to stay in whatever house first receives them. They are to eat and drink whatever they are given. If the town receives them, they are to work healings. If not, they are to move on. These instructions tell the disciples in essence that divine providence is to set the boundaries and outlines of their ministry; they are not to determine the course of their work themselves. Jesus is telling his disciples that they are to accept the place he gives them exactly as he gives it to them.
This command of the Lord applies to us as well. Each of us has been set into a certain place within the plan of Almighty God. He has placed us into a certain time in history, in a certain culture, a certain place, with certain parents and family heritages, with a certain body, a certain soul, and certain gifts. We have not chosen any of these but have received them. Often, even while making our free choices to reach for the good, for the Lord, from within the lives we have received, we face situations, opportunities, and challenges that we could never have predicted, and most often would or could never have chosen, for good or ill.
We can be tempted so easily to reject the place that God has given us. We can daydream about how things might have been if we had received another place in history, a different personality, different opportunities, or if we had the foresight to have made different choices. We long sometimes to be people other than ourselves, or idealized versions of ourselves. We can dream of different homes and possessions, different careers, or even different relationships as the way forward towards real happiness. In some cases, we might even act in rejection of the place God has given us.
But the Lord’s command remains. “Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is set before you.” Christ who loves us has given us a particular mission field, with particular people he calls us to love in concrete situations and contexts particular to us. He asks us to be faithful to this part of the harvest he has chosen for us. He calls us to grow and exercise our freedom not by rejecting who we are and where we have been set, but precisely in engaging that mission field creatively, giving freely the love that only we can give. The disciples in today’s Gospel did just this, trusting in the Lord’s command, and came home rejoicing that miracles of mercy and healing had taken place through their obedience. If we too trust Jesus and accept what his providence has given us, we too can hear his beautiful assurance: “your names are written in heaven.”
Fr. Rampino is studying at Catholic University in Washington with residence at Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria.
Trusting the mission
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July 6 — Lk 10:1-12, 17-20
This week’s Gospel most often turns our minds to consider vocations, with Christ saying, “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
This command of the Lord’s is certainly important for us to hear; we always stand in need of young people who look out into the harvest of the world and let the master of the harvest move them to offer their lives in gathering it. Nevertheless, there is another lesson present in this Gospel passage that is of the utmost importance to all of us in our pursuit of heaven.
Throughout this passage, Christ orders his disciples to accept what is given to them. As they go on their mission, they are to carry nothing of their own, “no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” They are to stay in whatever house first receives them. They are to eat and drink whatever they are given. If the town receives them, they are to work healings. If not, they are to move on. These instructions tell the disciples in essence that divine providence is to set the boundaries and outlines of their ministry; they are not to determine the course of their work themselves. Jesus is telling his disciples that they are to accept the place he gives them exactly as he gives it to them.
This command of the Lord applies to us as well. Each of us has been set into a certain place within the plan of Almighty God. He has placed us into a certain time in history, in a certain culture, a certain place, with certain parents and family heritages, with a certain body, a certain soul, and certain gifts. We have not chosen any of these but have received them. Often, even while making our free choices to reach for the good, for the Lord, from within the lives we have received, we face situations, opportunities, and challenges that we could never have predicted, and most often would or could never have chosen, for good or ill.
We can be tempted so easily to reject the place that God has given us. We can daydream about how things might have been if we had received another place in history, a different personality, different opportunities, or if we had the foresight to have made different choices. We long sometimes to be people other than ourselves, or idealized versions of ourselves. We can dream of different homes and possessions, different careers, or even different relationships as the way forward towards real happiness. In some cases, we might even act in rejection of the place God has given us.
But the Lord’s command remains. “Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is set before you.” Christ who loves us has given us a particular mission field, with particular people he calls us to love in concrete situations and contexts particular to us. He asks us to be faithful to this part of the harvest he has chosen for us. He calls us to grow and exercise our freedom not by rejecting who we are and where we have been set, but precisely in engaging that mission field creatively, giving freely the love that only we can give. The disciples in today’s Gospel did just this, trusting in the Lord’s command, and came home rejoicing that miracles of mercy and healing had taken place through their obedience. If we too trust Jesus and accept what his providence has given us, we too can hear his beautiful assurance: “your names are written in heaven.”
Fr. Rampino is studying at Catholic University in Washington with residence at Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria.
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