Go, Spread the Kingdom
Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (July 7, 2011)
Matthew 10:7-15
Jesus sent out the Twelve with the following instructions, “As you go, make this proclamation: ´The kingdom of heaven is at hand.´ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words -- go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, in your presence I break away from the spiritual laziness and indifference that deprives me of the fruit of this prayer which I need so much. I know my poverty, and you are immensely rich in all that I need. I am so slow to give, whereas you are prompt and total in your gifts to me. I offer you this unruly heart of mine to do all that you wish of me today.
Petition: Lord, please grant me the grace to be a better apostle today than I was yesterday.
1. Go Out: The command is “Go.” The Kingdom cannot be spread while sitting in an easy chair. We cannot wait for the world that needs Christ to come to our door. Letting opportunities where we can serve pass by, hoping someone else will take the initiative, is simply a “no” to Christ’s command. “Go” means sensitizing our heart and eyes to those who are hungry for Christ, seeing in the faces of our family members and co-workers a hunger for his power and grace. In this culture that is sick and waning, “go” means reaching out to those who need to know Christ, so that his Kingdom will expand. We cannot take the easy route of preaching to the choir; we must reach out to those professions and fields of study that have lost all sense of the dignity of the human person – especially medicine, law, politics and education. This is what the King is asking. What is the response I am giving to my King?
2. “Nobody Gives What He Doesn’t Possess”: Christ’s command is to give from what we have received. If every day we make ourselves more aware of the gifts we have been given through Christ’s power, we will be better at giving Christ to others. As apostles, we go not with our own power; rather, we carry Christ’s power to heal, save and conquer evil. It is he who drives the mission, who makes the apostles a team. How often do I calculate what I can contribute to the mission based only on the strength of my human qualities? How often do I give only from what is just me, rather than from the graces I have received from the Holy Spirit? Moreover, do I measure my effectiveness solely from an individual perspective, rather than from that of the whole body of the Church, in which other apostles are locked arm-in-arm with me for the cause of Christ? God’s saving power is found where obedience and unity are, not where only natural talents, gifts and abilities are at play.
3. Failures and Disappointments: Christ affirms that when we reach an impasse in our lives, this is, in and of itself, no sign of the lack of the authenticity of our mission. Its results are tied to the free-will choices of others, as well as to a plan where apparent barrenness is part of God’s economy of salvation. A period of few fruits in the mission can be a period of consolidation of our commitment to follow him in season and out of season. Take this time to repel all discouragement and doubt and to prove how authentic our “yes” is. A pure “yes” will seek God’s will and the mission at hand simply because he wants it, not for any easy or short-term results.
Conversation with Christ: Jesus, I wish to ignite my own zeal for your Kingdom from the furnace of divine love which burns in your heart. I offer you the promise of a soldier in combat: to be courageous, honorable, persevering, and worthy of the name I bear – “Apostle of the Kingdom of Christ.” I work aware of the fact that I have only one life to live on this earth. Not one minute must be wasted in comfort-seeking and selfishness. My heart is ready for the mission, Lord; please sustain it today with the strength of your own.
Resolution: Today I will review my daily and weekly time commitments before Christ, and I will ensure that I am using my time as fruitfully as I can to expand his Kingdom in the world.
Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
1516 My daughter, tell souls that I am giving them My mercy as a defense. I Myself am fighting for them and am bearing the just anger of My Father.
1517 Say, My daughter, that the Feast of My Mercy has issued forth from My very depths for the consolation of the whole world.
1518 Jesus, my peace and my rest, I beg You to give light to that sister, so that she may change interiorly, Support her powerfully with Your grace, so that she, too, may attain perfection.
1519 + Today before Holy Communion, the Lord said to me, My daughter, today talk openly to the Superior [Mother Irene] about My mercy because, of all the superiors, she has taken the greatest part in proclaiming My mercy. And in fact, Mother Superior came this afternoon, and we talked about this Work of God. Mother told me that the images had not come out too well and were not selling very well. "But," she said, "I have taken a good quantity myself and am distributing them wherever I can and do the best I can to spread the Work of Mercy." When she had gone, the Lord gave me to know how pleasing this soul was to Him.
1520 Today the Lord said to me, I have opened My Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust. Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in My mercy will be filled with My divine peace at the hour of death.
1521 The Lord said to me, My daughter, do not tire of proclaiming My mercy. In this way you will refresh this Heart of Mine, which burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell My priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak.
1522 Community life is difficult in itself, but it is doubly difficult to get along with proud souls. "O God, give me ' a deeper faith that I may always see in every sister Your holy image which has been engraved in her soul...
1523 Everlasting love, pure flame, burn in my heart ceaselessly and deify my whole being, according to Your infinite pleasure by which You summoned me into existence and called me to take part in Your everlasting happiness. O merciful Lord, it is only out of mercy that You have lavished these gifts upon me. Seeing all these free gifts within me, with deep humility I worship Your incomprehensible goodness. Lord, my heart is filled with amazement that You, absolute Lord, in need of no one, would nevertheless stoop so low out of pure love for us. I can never help being amazed that the Lord would have such an intimate relationship with His creatures. That again is His unfathomable goodness. Every time I begin this meditation, I never finish it, because my spirit becomes entirely drowned in Him. What a delight it is to love with all the force of one's soul and to be loved even more in return, to feel and experience this with the full consciousness of one's being. There are no words to express this.
1517 Say, My daughter, that the Feast of My Mercy has issued forth from My very depths for the consolation of the whole world.
1518 Jesus, my peace and my rest, I beg You to give light to that sister, so that she may change interiorly, Support her powerfully with Your grace, so that she, too, may attain perfection.
1519 + Today before Holy Communion, the Lord said to me, My daughter, today talk openly to the Superior [Mother Irene] about My mercy because, of all the superiors, she has taken the greatest part in proclaiming My mercy. And in fact, Mother Superior came this afternoon, and we talked about this Work of God. Mother told me that the images had not come out too well and were not selling very well. "But," she said, "I have taken a good quantity myself and am distributing them wherever I can and do the best I can to spread the Work of Mercy." When she had gone, the Lord gave me to know how pleasing this soul was to Him.
1520 Today the Lord said to me, I have opened My Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust. Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in My mercy will be filled with My divine peace at the hour of death.
1521 The Lord said to me, My daughter, do not tire of proclaiming My mercy. In this way you will refresh this Heart of Mine, which burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell My priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak.
1522 Community life is difficult in itself, but it is doubly difficult to get along with proud souls. "O God, give me ' a deeper faith that I may always see in every sister Your holy image which has been engraved in her soul...
1523 Everlasting love, pure flame, burn in my heart ceaselessly and deify my whole being, according to Your infinite pleasure by which You summoned me into existence and called me to take part in Your everlasting happiness. O merciful Lord, it is only out of mercy that You have lavished these gifts upon me. Seeing all these free gifts within me, with deep humility I worship Your incomprehensible goodness. Lord, my heart is filled with amazement that You, absolute Lord, in need of no one, would nevertheless stoop so low out of pure love for us. I can never help being amazed that the Lord would have such an intimate relationship with His creatures. That again is His unfathomable goodness. Every time I begin this meditation, I never finish it, because my spirit becomes entirely drowned in Him. What a delight it is to love with all the force of one's soul and to be loved even more in return, to feel and experience this with the full consciousness of one's being. There are no words to express this.
1540 January 28, 1938. Today the Lord said to me, My daughter, write down these words: All those souls who will glorify My mercy and spread its worship, encouraging others to trust in My mercy, will not experience terror at the hour of death. My mercy will shield them in that final battle...
1541 My daughter, encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given to you. It pleases Me to grant everything they ask of Me by saying the chaplet. When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one.
Write this for the benefit of distressed souls: when a soul sees and realizes the gravity of its sins, when the whole abyss of the misery into which it immersed itself is displayed before its eyes, let it not despair, but with trust let it throw itself into the arms of My mercy, as a child into the arms of its beloved mother. These souls have a right of priority to My compassionate Heart, they have first access to My mercy. Tell them that no soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust in My goodness.
Write that when they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the merciful Savior.
Write this for the benefit of distressed souls: when a soul sees and realizes the gravity of its sins, when the whole abyss of the misery into which it immersed itself is displayed before its eyes, let it not despair, but with trust let it throw itself into the arms of My mercy, as a child into the arms of its beloved mother. These souls have a right of priority to My compassionate Heart, they have first access to My mercy. Tell them that no soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust in My goodness.
Write that when they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the merciful Savior.
(Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1516-1523, 1540-1541)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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