In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus gives instructions to the Twelve, His 12 Apostles, on how to carry out His prophetic, priestly, kingly mission to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus gives power and authority to His disciples to heal the physically sick, and the spiritually sick by exorcising demonic spirits, and to forgive sins. Aside from spiritual instructions, the Apostles are told to travel two by two, with nothing but a walking stick, not even food, sack, and money. He tells them to accept the hospitality of any house and remain there until they leave. On the other hand, Jesus instructs them to just leave the people who do not listen and the places that do not welcome them.
Mass Readings for the Day:
1 Kings 2:1-4, 10-12; 1 Chronicles 29:10; 11AB; 11D-12A, 12 BCD; Mark 1:15; Mark 6:7-13
My Reflection
1. Life on earth is only a pilgrimage toward the eternal life with God. But in order to get there, we ought to follow His instructions on how we must travel in this earthly journey. Therefore, to not get lost in this journey, we must obey the will of God and abide by His Commandments. Having a constant prayer life helps us discern and hear the voice of God within our hearts.
2. Along the way in this life journey, God gives us missions to accomplish, just as He did to the Twelve, because we all have a part in His plan of salvation for humanity. We have the freedom, however, not to accept, and to reject these missions. Thus, doing things contrary to the will of God opposes our Christian mission. For example:
- If you are married, do you use artificial birth control methods and contraceptives? That is going against the mission of Holy Matrimony and the sanctity of Marriage God has given you.
- If you are not married, are you into having premarital sexual relations? That is going against the mission of chastity and preserving purity God has given unmarried people like you.
- Do you own a business that promotes unfair practices, lewdness or immorality? That is against God’s will to protect the dignity of human persons.
- Do you go to Mass on Sundays and other holy days of obligations? If you only go to Mass on Christmases and Easter Sundays, then that is going against the mission God has given us to celebrate the Lord’s Day and the Eucharist, which is the heart of the life of the Church.
In the First Reading for this day (Thursday), we learn the very last instructions of King David to his son Solomon—to faithfully conduct oneself and to live one’s life according to God’s laws:
“I am going the way of all flesh. Take courage and be a man. Keep the mandate of the LORD, your God, following his ways and observing his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn, and the LORD may fulfill the promise he made on my behalf when he said, ‘If your sons so conduct themselves that they remain faithful to me with their whole heart and with their whole soul, you shall always have someone of your line on the throne of Israel.'”
– 1 Kings 2:2-4
3. Perhaps many of us Catholics do not commit grave or mortal sins in our lives, but carry an “extra baggage,” which Jesus spoke of in the Gospel. He specifically told His disciples “to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick–no food, no sack, no money in their belts” (Mark 6:8). Simply said, in modern language, Jesus instructs us to “travel light.”
4. Traveling light means not having extra baggage. For us to ultimately reach the Lord through this journey, we must not be too attached to the material things we own, but rely on God Himself in every step. Instead of material things and worldly desires, we should instead have attachments to various means of holiness. Such things will enable us to focus on God above all, and make holy our ways of following, serving, and pleasing Him.
5. Aside from the material attachments that distract us from focusing on God, many of us Catholics probably carry an “emotional baggage” in the form of unforgiveness, pains and hurts that we have experienced, some of which can even be traced back to early childhood.
6. My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, I know how these emotional pains and hurts feel, because I too experienced to have been wronged by an evil enemy, even when I only brought goodwill to the person.
7. Jesus instructs us, as He instructed the Apostles, that to be able to do and fulfill our missions in life, we must not carry such baggage anymore. Instead, we must leave behind these feelings and emotions, and surrender them to God Himself with total trust in Him.
8. There are times when it feels ‘good’ to wallow in our hatred and pains caused by our unjust enemies. But if we do that, we lose our focus on the way to the Lord. Wallowing in hatred and pains can make anyone unholy. Instead of using our time to pray the Rosary, reflect on the Scripture, or read the writings of the Saints and other Catholics, we are only wasting our time and energy on something that we can do nothing about; such baggages are things that only God can deal with and solve.
9. As a final instruction, Jesus said,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.”
– Mark 6:10-11
This tells us that if we have done our part in resolving our conflict with those unfair enemies by trying to make peace with them, but they just would not listen, we must ‘shake the dust off our feet,’ leave him or her behind, and move on with God by our side — Jesus tells us to let go.
10. God knows about that baggage and everything else — He knows the wrong done to you; He knows why you are feeling hurt; He knows the good you do to others; He knows you try and do your part as Catholic; He knows when an enemy rejects your kindness and repays you with evil — God knows it all.
In letting go, we are taking it all up to God. We put the matter in His hands, and give Him all our trust to make something good for us out of what happened. Let us ask for the grace of God to help us follow His lead to be able to forgive, to let go of that baggage, and to receive His providence in this life journey.
So travel light. Look beyond the worldliness, hurts and pains in this life on earth. Do not let them take away your holiness and endanger your salvation. Focus on people and things that make us holy. We must travel with a light heart and soul to journey safely back to God, in Heaven, our true home.
A short prayer I wrote for the day:
God, give me the grace to let go as I place my hurts and pains in Your hands and trust in Your love.
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
Mama Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Email: [email protected]
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