“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Wednesday, 12th July 2017.
Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Gen 41:55-57; 42:5-7, 17-24;
Ps 32:2-3, 10-11, 18-19;
Mt 10:1-7
THE FAITH OF A DISCIPLE
Today’s gospel consists of instructions to Jesus’ disciples on how to conduct their missionary work and the reactions they can expect. It begins by the summoning of the inner circle of twelve disciples who are now called apostles. A disciple (Latin discipulus, from discere, to learn) is a follower, someone learning from a teacher and assimilating that teaching into his own life. An apostle (Greek, apostolos from apostello) is someone sent on a mission and disseminates the teaching of the master.
Jesus wants devoted missionaries who are not special people but his unrelenting followers, his brothers and sisters who do the will of the Father. Jesus gives His Apostles a sacred authority. They were able to drive out demons and heal the sick. At the beginnings of the Church it seems that miracles were quite common. The miracles Jesus did and those of His Apostles were powerful signs of the power and presence of God. These miracles helped the preaching of the Apostles to be more believable and bring forth many converts. As the Church grew, miracles in such great numbers were not as necessary for the authentication of the Word of God. The personal lives and witness of believers eventually were sufficient to spread the Gospel without the help of numerous miracles. Martyrdom and acts of great faith became the true signs of God’s presence.
Each of us is called to be a disciple is, by virtue of Baptism and Confirmation. We are expected to be apostles, actively sharing our faith with others. When we reflect on our own lives of faith and conversion, in the beginning of our faith journey, we had many powerful experiences of God’s presence. But over time, these feelings disappeared and we wondered if we have done something wrong. There is an important spiritual lesson here. As our faith deepens, the spiritual consolations we receive can often fade away because God wants us to love and serve Him out of a more purified faith and love. We should believe and follow Him not because He makes us feel good, but because it is good and right to love and serve Him. This can be a difficult lesson to learn but an essential one.
Reflect, today, do you know and love God even when things are hard and when He seems far away? Those moments, more than any, are the moments when your personal faith and conversion can grow the strongest.
Prayer: Lord, help my faith in You and my love of You to be deep, stable and strong. Help me to love You first and foremost out of a pure love for You. Teach us to be Your faithful missionaries in word and in action. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.