Posted by The WORD in other words (2016) by Fr Antonio Pernia SVD – Divine Word Institute of Mission Studies, Tagaytay City
Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Today, the Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Saint Paul’s companion on his first missionary journey, the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells of Barnabas’ role in the Church in Antioch and narrates how he and Paul were set aside by the Spirit for the proclamation of the Gospel to the Gentiles. And in the Gospel reading, we read Jesus giving instructions to his disciples as they are being sent out on a mission. Jesus deliberately instructs them to take nothing for the journey.
Take nothing for the journey is to go deliberately empty-handed. It is to seek hospitality from the people; it is to allow oneself to be dependent on people; to be recipient of the gifts of the people, to be ministered by the people, to be indebted to the people. To take nothing for the journey is to realize that the people are not just to be recipients of our gifts but a rich resource for mission. It is relying solely on God’s grace and completely on the generosity of the people, and to realize that mission is not the giving of what we have, but the sharing of what we ourselves have received–the Good News of Jesus.
To take nothing for the journey is to believe that Mission is “Mission Dei”, God’s mission. Because mission is God’s, we need to rely completely on his grace and never on our gifts, talents or possessions. In mission, we go empty-handed, for only then can we allow the people to be filled with God. To take nothing for the journey is to approach mission in humility, poverty, and powerlessness. As the Gospel reading tells us, it is because the disciples took nothing for the journey that they “drove out demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
One comment