Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Hosea 11:1-4.8e-9; Matthew 10:7-15)
Today when people set out on a journey they take more than what
they need. “Just in case,” they say,
they carry clothes for the fall on a summer journey and a few hundred dollars
more than what they anticipate spending.
Their concern with having enough contrasts with Jesus’ lesson for his
missionaries in today’s gospel.
Jesus wants his apostles to preach the imminent coming of
the Kingdom of God. They are to show
evidence of the Kingdom by their ministry to the sick and to the mentally
disturbed. Also, their own dependency
upon God anticipates the immediacy of His Kingdom’s presence. They are not to
take money, nor clothes other than what they wear, nor even a walking stick to
help them traverse rough terrain.
Do Jesus’ instructions have any bearing on how we live
today? To be sure, it is meant for
missionaries, not vacationers or salespersons on business. Yet it warns us about greed. We are not to let our risk-aversion culture make
us worry about what may happen. Rather
we are to be practice what was called “liberality” by classical
philosophers. Liberality is the virtue
that enables us to use our resources for the good of all. It frees us from fussing
about whether we will always have enough so that we might help those now facing
legitimate crises.
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