Homily for Thursday, 10 July 2014– Ferial

Thursday of the 14th week in Ordinary Time 

Readings of the day: Hosea 11:1-4, 8e-9; Psalm 80:2ac, 3b, 15-16; Matthew 10:7-15

Has there ever been a time when any of us have felt vulnerable; uncomfortable with a task or ministry with which we have been entrusted?

This past weekend, I was invited to preach at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church here in Rochester in support of our Basilian Mission apostolates in Colombia and Mexico. (This was not a task that made me feel vulnerable or uncomfortable; in fact I was grateful for the opportunity to preach for my Congregation’s missions.)

But preaching for the Basilian Missions gave me an opportunity to reflect on my time and ministry as a Basilian in Cali, Colombia. Shortly after arriving in Cali for my first Basilian appointment, as a new and somewhat naïve postulant of our order, I was walking with the superior of our local community in Cali. At that point, I did not speak Spanish, and postulants in Cali were instructed always to leave the house in pairs because of security concerns in Cali. At one point, as I was apprehensively keeping close to our superior’s side, he asked me, “Are you nervous”? I had to admit that I was nervous, not speaking the local language and having heard of the frequency of violence and theft in the part of Cali in which Basilians serve. This was a point very early in my Basilian ministry at which I felt especially vulnerable; out of my depth.

Can we not imagine the apostles whom Jesus sends out in today’s Gospel feeling similarly vulnerable? They are sent out on their mission to proclaim that “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” with the bare minimum of personal belongings. Jesus instructs them not to take along money; “no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or a walking stick.” They are to depend on the generosity of those whom they serve; into whose houses they enter.

I wonder if, today, Jesus’ instructions of what not to take along might be a smart phone or other electronic devices, extra money, fancy clothing, a second or third automobile… None of these things are in and of themselves bad, but they are things that may distract us from the core of our mission to proclaim the “Kingdom of heaven” that is “at hand.”

What are the material goods or personal comforts without which we feel vulnerable? What would inhibit us from entering the houses; the spaces of those in need of God’s presence to proclaim peace and the imminent kingdom of God to these people? We are invited not necessarily to proclaim a peace that we feel intimately at all times; not to proclaim a peace that comes from ourselves but ultimately comes from God. Do we have the courage and trust in God to proclaim God’s peace to those whom we minister‒ peace be to this house; to this person‒ especially in times when we feel most vulnerable; most like the apostles Jesus once sent out to proclaim to the world: “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”?