He Instructed Them

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

Take courage and be a man.  Keep the mandate of the LORD, your God, following his ways and observing his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn, and the LORD may fulfill the promise he made.  1 Kings 2:3-4a

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits.  He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick –no food, no sack, no money in their belts.  They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.  Mark 6:7-9

Piety

Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Study

When there used to be abundant bookstores, the counters around the checkout registers were always stacked with little trade paperbacks allegedly filled with wisdom.  Rarely did you find the New American Bible in these point of last resort purchases.  But you did find titles like:

·         All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

·         Life's Little Instruction Book

·         Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and It's All Small Stuff

·         The Three Boxes of Life

These all had the common theme of providing pithy, memorable nuggets of information to help people navigate their lives, careers and relationships as long as you paid $7.95 plus tax.  Now you have to add shipping fees, too, when you buy them online. 

There is an interesting version of the New Testament edited by the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.  Called the Gospel in Brief, he distills the four Gospel accounts into only the social message delivered by Christ.  This leaves out the Christmas narrative, the Resurrection and all the miracles and signed performed.  In doing so, Tolstoy turns the Good News into an instruction book of Christ’s distilled commentary much like an exposition on the prayer that Jesus taught us.     

Action

Are you ready to begin putting these lessons into practice?  Practice makes action.