Gospel Reflection for July 11th : 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time By Brother Michael
We are called and sent by Jesus
At one level, today’s gospel is a very easy one to understand. At another it is very challenging to each of us today. It begins with this; Jesus called the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs… so they set off to preach repentance; and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.’ It would easy for us to believe that Jesus just sent them out. If we believe that scripture is alive and active, then we are also asked to accept that we too are called and sent by Jesus in exactly the same way.
The friends and followers of Jesus spent a lot of time with him. They ate and prayed with him. They heard him preach and teach. They saw the miracles he performed and the people that he healed. They were fortunate enough to get to know him at a very deep and personal way. As always, Jesus had a plan; all the while he was preparing to send them out as his witness with his message of God’s kingdom. They set of to preach repentance; and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.’ He called them individually by their own name, but he sent them out in his name; not theirs. He sent them out to proclaim and announce his message; not theirs. They did this with even greater courage and conviction when they were filled and anointed with his Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
We belong to this missionary church. Through our baptism and having celebrated our confirmation each of us is filled with the same life-giving and energetic Holy Spirit. Today and everyday each of us is called to be a ‘missionary’ in our family and with our friends. We are called to be missionaries in our neighbourhoods and in our parish communities. This is why this gospel is so challenging for us. Perhaps it’s easier and even more comfortable to believe that I am not called by my name personally and sent out by Jesus. Maybe it’s more convenient to leave it to others. The truth and reality is that Jesus continues to call and invite us to follow him and to carry on his mission and ministry through the quality of our daily lives.
In the past, we used the word ‘missionary’ to describe those men and woman who left their own country and families to go to far distant places to live and share the gospel with others. This is still the case today, including our own Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, many of whom are working around the world building God’s Kingdom. But we are all called by name by God to be missionaries. We are asked to be ‘missionaries’, witnesses to the presence of Jesus in our world today – wherever we are. Not all of us are asked to leave our own country to travel across the world. In reality more of us called to be missionaries in our homes with our own families and friends. Our local neighbourhoods and parish community are the places where we called to live our lives as followers of Jesus. If not me, then whom, if not now, then when, if not where I live and work, then where will I be a missionary?
Jesus is always present where there is a need; where there is a person in material or spiritual need. Be aware of the simple cries for help and don’t say, ‘God will help you, I don’t have time.’ We don’t have to go as a missionary to a far off country to help. Often it is those who are closet to us who need our help the most. We don’t have to be looking for who-knows what challenges; it is better to start with the simplest of things, which are often the most urgent. (Pope Francis: 12th. October 2016)
Br Michael Moore OMI
– Br Michael Moore OMI
Gospel Sunday July 11th Mark 6:7-13 ©
