If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are: First Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24 Responsorial: Psalm 48:2-3ab, 3cd-4, 9, 10-11 Gospel: Mark 6:7-13
Our reflection on Thursday’s readings: Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet. Mark 6:11
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus sends the apostles out to the community to begin preaching the Good News. He instructed them to take nothing with them except for sandals and a walking stick. They were totally dependent on themselves and the community for survival. He also gave great guidance to his friends and told them that they should leave the communities that did not welcome them.
I find this reading so empowering. I’m reading a book about the history of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity (MSBT). They are a vowed women religious community that concentrated much of their work in Alabama in the 1900s. The book, Led by the Spirit, tells the story of the founders of the MSBT and how they moved through southern communities during a time when the Ku Klux Klan was very active. They knew they were in a place that did not welcome the Catholic community, yet they went anyway.
The Sisters and laity at that time went door to door meeting families and inviting them to send their children to the school they had just started. All were welcomed, yet they too followed a segregated school structure as this was 1910. The Sisters wove themselves in and out of the homes that welcomed them. They would return to their own home base after their visits. The Sisters lived simply and by many accounts in impoverished conditions. It is a story that brings to life the Gospel reading today.
Inspired by the reading today and by the lives of MSBT, I reflect on those who rely only on their faith and on their trusted friends to continue spreading the news of God’s love and justice. I am realizing that I have so much to learn from these lived examples, especially on when to leave and when to stay. A decision made with great reliance on the mystery of faith.
May your faith be strengthened by the lived examples of the apostles today.
