Take Nothing but Your Faith by Colleen O’Sullivan
Give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need. (Proverbs 30:8bc)
Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them." (Luke 9:1-5)
Piety
- Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
I will not forget Your love for me and yet,
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus be my guide,
And hold me to Your side,
And I will love You to the end.
Nothing will I fear
As long as You are near;
Please be near me to the end.
Study
Me packing my carry-on bag for a trip:
ü Prescription Meds
ü Jewelry
ü iPhone
ü iPod
ü Kindle
ü Book (in case I can’t find anything to read out of the hundreds of books on my Kindle)
ü Pajamas
ü Cram in whatever else will fit
Jesus would fall over with amazement were I to take only myself whenever I go somewhere. (For that matter, so would I!) Our Scripture readings, therefore, present a real challenge. The writer of Proverbs tells us to pray that God supplies us only with what we need for the day. Don’t worry about the rest of the week, or the year, or a lifetime. Trust that God knows what we need to get through the day. I am the queen of planning ahead and being organized in case of any eventuality. And the anxiety that is conquered by all that is precisely what Jesus asks me to leave behind. Trust in God. God will provide.
Jesus tells the disciples to leave everything at home, to go out empty-handed. No extra clothes, no backpacks, no bag lunches, no bottled water. Just yourself. Trust that what you need will be provided along the way.
The truth is, we are never really empty-handed. Wherever God leads us, we take along our relationship with Jesus. That’s what the Christian journey is all about – a relationship. When we reread the Gospel verses for today, we realize that Jesus never talks about results or what success or failure would look like. It’s not about that. It’s about being faithful to our relationship with the Lord every step of the way. It’s about believing that relationship is more important than what we wear or our social media, or anything else we consider so important that we can never be without it.
Action
As I reflected on today’s Scripture readings, I was reminded of the principle of Ignatian indifference, which St. Ignatius spells out in his Spiritual Exercises. It isn’t just our material possessions that we are tempted to carry around but also our desires for how we prefer to journey through life.
We must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed… Consequently, …we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things. Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we were created. (The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, #23)
No matter what our circumstances, all we need to do each day is pray for sustenance for that day’s journey and trust in Jesus that he walks beside us every step of the way.
When you are praying today, reflect on your faith journey and any extraneous baggage you are carrying. Ask God for the strength to give up anything we don’t need to carry and for the desire to rely solely on God for sustenance.
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