Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 3, 2019 - Thursday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Neh 8:1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12 and Luke 10:1-12]"Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The Kingdom of God is at hand for you." [Luke]
The mission is expanding! Jesus appoints "a further 72" and sends them out like "advance men" to handle various tasks. He sets a pretty strict standard for them: "No money bag, no sack, no sandals....." The lifestyle of the preacher preaches before anything is said! When St. Dominic and his bishop, Diego, saw that the heretical Albigensian preachers were winning converts because their lifestyle was starkly austere compared with the bishops and abbots who were trying to counter the heresy, they came up with the idea that would become the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans!
Itinerant preaching is challenging because of the variety of circumstances and environments that a preacher will encounter. After more than 20 years of that ministry, I can testify that one had better be flexible and have a simple way of living. Pastors and liturgists, etc., do not need prima donna preachers with all kinds of demands coming to preach. They will size up the preacher before he or she ever sets foot in the pulpit. The preaching of the Kingdom of God is more than words. Do our own lifestyles proclaim the Kingdom of God? AMEN