APOSTOLIC EMPOWERMENT! ~ CookingFood.Org

“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”

Thursday, 7th July 2016,

Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Hos 11:1-4, 8-9;

Ps 79:2-3, 15-16;

Mt 10:7-15

APOSTOLIC EMPOWERMENT!

Jesus, the Son of God, sent into this world by the Father’s Love, preached the kingdom of God in the kingdom of man, to reclaim as many as possible from the kingdom of the devil. Deciding that mortals like you and me, should cooperate in saving the world from the powers of death and darkness, he chose twelve men at the beginning of his public ministry, and called them apostles. To these, he gave special training in the principles of their ministry, empowering them to drive out demons, to raise the dead, to cure leprosy and other diseases.

The gospels show Jesus as a great physician, curing lepers, paralytics, blind and deaf people, and even raising the dead. Jesus, now, shares these powers with his apostles, who are to be the heralds of the kingdom of God. Just as education, training, professional excellence, etc., empowers people for life in the secular city, so too the ministers of the kingdom of God, were to have suitable qualifications. Poverty was to be one of their weapons against worldly wisdom, and peace was to be the fruit of that wisdom. They were to depend on God and also on the charity of their beneficiaries. How well Jesus knew that money was the root of many evils.

How much has the Church and her ministry been weakened by money, wealth and ambition. The empowerment of the Church is brought about by poverty and the charity for which true humility is an indispensable foundation. Another source of apostolic empowerment is that inner peace and tranquility that comes from a clean conscience and true humility. A true apostle remains serene whether he is accepted or rejected.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, transform all Christians, and especially the clergy, into true apostles. Amen.