Word to the Wise
Thursday, February 6, 2025 - Thursday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 12:18-19, 21-24 and Mark 6:7-13]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]
FEBRUARY 6 ST. PAUL MIKI AND COMPANIONS, martyrs in Japan
The idea for founding a religious order of well-prepared preachers came to St. Dominic and his then-bishop of Osma, Diego, when they were on a diplomatic journey that took them from Spain to Denmark. When they passed through southern France, they encountered the efforts of the Church to combat a heretical movement known as the Albigensian heresy. The heretical preachers were gaining multitudes of converts by their itinerant and austere lifestyle, whereas the official Church preachers were bishops and abbots who traveled in high style with servants, etc.. On the return trip from Denmark, Dominic and Diego stopped in southern France and began to gather followers who were attracted by the idea of imitating Jesus' disciples and combating the heresy. Thus the Dominican Order, the Order of Preachers, was born.
The "apostolic lifestyle," especially as described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37), has inspired many imitators throughout history. St. Francis of Assisi's followers have made "Lady Poverty" their principal charism. In Protestant examples we have the Amish and Mennonite communities among others. In our American consumer-oriented society, austerity and voluntary poverty as a way of following Jesus may be admired but rarely sought in a deliberate way. Yet, the effectiveness of this approach in preaching the gospel has been demonstrated time after time.
I once saw a bumper sticker that said: "Live simply so that others may simply live!" Jesus' instructions to the Twelve enjoined them to live simply so that the Word of Life could be effectively preached. That remains a challenge to all of us who by our baptism have been called to be "missionary disciples!" AMEN