Thursday of the Fourteenth
Week in Ordinary Time
(Hosea 11:1-4.8e-9; Matthew 10:7-15)
I have six pence, jolly, jolly six pence/ I have six
pence to last me all my life.
I have two pence to spend and two pence to lend,
And two pence to send home to my wife, poor wife.
Many of us sang such rhymes in our youth perhaps making
the best of the days when our earning power was minimal. Perhaps the apostles sang something like it
as they were sent by Jesus to proclaim the Good News.
Jesus tells them that they are not to “take gold or
silver or copper” with them. The last, a
copper coin, is what we call today a penny.
Jesus wants the apostles are to preach the goodness of God by their
poverty as well as by their words.
Completely dependent on Divine Providence, without even a penny to their
name, they will show how the Lord cares for those who trust in Him. He not only gives them upkeep but a more
valuable inner joy.
Often enough today we forget this instruction from
Jesus. Preachers will set substantial
fees for their services. Lay people also
may always look for compensation for any service rendered. It is not that asking a definite amount for
one’s efforts is wrong. The problem is
that we do not see ourselves as God’s children with responsibility for one
another.
