06.02.25 Tanpa Bekal, Penuh Kuasa: Rahasia Perjalanan Iman

Thursday 4th week in ordinary time "Mk 6:7-13"

And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, "Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them." So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. Jesus sent them to all those places instead of going Himself. Certainly He could have gone in Person and could have preached far more effectively than St Peter and the others. It seems better to receive Jesus in your village than to receive Philip or Andrew… But Jesus wanted to send His disciples instead. They didn't need anything else: "no bread, no bag, no money..." Because it wasn't about human means but supernatural ones. Just go! Just obey! But 'who am I', they could wonder, 'to preach in Jesus' Name?' You are an apostle, that's what you are! Apostle in Greek means envoy, ambassador or messenger. That's what every baptised person is. The temptation comes when we compare ourselves with them and realise that we can't do what the Apostles did. We can't preach to multitudes, we can't go through the whole world and persuade crowds of unbelievers. You are right! But we don't have to. Our apostolate is personal. It's one-to-one; what Italians call 'a quattròcchi' (with four eyes), just you and your friend. We can't help a hundred, but we can help one at a time. A man was walking on the beach. The tide was out and had left thousands of starfish on the sand. There he came across a man bending down, picking up the starfish and throwing them back into the water. The first man smiled and said, "Why do you bother? Don't you see that there are thousands of them and it won't make any difference?" The other man reached down and picked up another starfish, threw it into the sea and replied, "It has made a difference for this one. This one will live." God wants "all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4). All men; everyone! You can continue your prayer now thinking about those you can return to the sea of the Mercy of God.