15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

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POWERFUL MISSION

Mk 6: 7-13

 

 


 

When Fr Suarez, the healing priest was alive, a person noticed that he would wave his hand at people he met though he did not know them. When asked why he was doing this, he simply replied that people reported that when he waved at them, they were instantly cured of their diseases.

 

Our Lord Jesus did not only send out apostles to do mission; he also invested them with power, with authority over evil spirits! What great power! But how could they accomplish such great works when they had nothing? Remember, Jesus gave only one advice: no food, no sack, no money. No packed lunch or snacks. No backpack for clothes or toiletries. No cash, credit card, no Gcash!

 

And yet, the apostles reported success over many demons and the number of those they healed were many! How can people with nothing do amazing things? The answer is simple: because they had nothing, because they knew they were nothing, it is Jesus who worked through and in them. They needed nothing else but to carry Jesus in their hearts and share his love to others.

 

One of the things that turn people off from the faith community is  the fact that they find today’s apostles boring, out of touch, insincere, shallow and too worldly. The reason for this is that we, priests and people alike, are burdened by so much baggage. We want to pretend to be sublime; we preach above people’s heads, we want an easy life, we have so many possessions that God is no longer the only center of our lives.

 

Remember when after the resurrection, Peter said to a lame man at the temple gate: “Gold and silver I do not have, but in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I tell you, arise!” Can church people say that without hesitation: Gold and silver I do not have? Because we have so much of everything, these things serve as blockage between us and the grace that should flow freely through us.

 

Pope Francis believes in the power of Jesus that works through a church that is poor, that is simple, that is sincere. Let us pray that we can recover the power of the Gospel, the power of Jesus’ name, coming out of hearts that only have Jesus at the center!

 

 

 

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