READING OF THE DAY
PRV 30:5-9
Every word of God is tested;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Add nothing to his words,
lest he reprove you, and you will be exposed as a deceiver.Two things I ask of you,
deny them not to me before I die:
Put falsehood and lying far from me,
give me neither poverty nor riches;
provide me only with the food I need;
Lest, being full, I deny you,
saying, “Who is the LORD?”
Or, being in want, I steal,
and profane the name of my God.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.
Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.
And as for those who do not welcome you,
when you leave that town,
shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.”
Then they set out and went from village to village
proclaiming the Good News and curing diseases everywhere.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Poverty and praising God are the two main indicators of the Church’s mission; they are “signs” that reveal to the People of God whether “an apostle practises gratuitousness”.
[…]“Gospel preaching is born from from giving freely, from wonder of salvation which comes; and what I have received freely I must give freely”.
This is evident when Jesus sends out his Apostles with instructions for their mission. “His orders are very simple”, the Holy Father emphasized. “Do not provide yourselves with gold, or silver, or copper in your belts…”. It was a mission of salvation that consisted in healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers and chasing out demons. And Pope Francis specified that it was to bring people close to the kingdom of God, to give them the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand, indeed it is already here.
The key phrase in Christ’s instructions to his disciples is: “you received without pay, give without pay”. These words contain the full gratuitousness of salvation, because: “we cannot preach or proclaim the kingdom of God, without this inner certainty that it is all freely given, it is all grace”. And when we act without leaving room for grace, the Pope said, “the Gospel has no effectiveness”.
Moreover various episodes in the life of the first Apostles testify that Gospel preaching is born from what is given freely. St Peter, the Holy Father said, “had no bank account and when he had to pay taxes, the Lord sent him to fish in the sea to find money in the fish to pay them.
Pope Francis made it clear than when an apostle does not give freely he also loses the ability to praise the Lord, for “praising the Lord is essentially gratuitous. It is prayer freely prayed… We do not only ask, we praise”; but when disciples “want to make a rich Church, a Church without freely given praise, she “ages, she becomes an NGO, she is lifeless”.
(Santa Marta, 11 June 2013)