GROW AS A DISCIPLE
A few years ago, I heard this witty but thought-provoking phrase: “You never see a U-Haul attached to a hearse” – a reminder that we don’t get to take our physical belongings with us when we die. This phrase came to mind as I read today’s Gospel. Jesus offers us a parable about the perils of placing our ultimate hope in amassing possessions. In our own lives, we might be challenged or inspired by the quiet example of people around us who demonstrate that material things aren’t what matter most. From individuals who lose their possessions but express gratitude for their physical safety to the child who hears about others in need and gathers up items from their own room to share, we glean gentle reminders that in the end, stuff is just stuff. Pondering this, what we’re left with is an invitation from Jesus to look inward: Where are our hearts in relation to our material possessions? Do we cling to them tightly, or do we hold them lightly? What does it mean to be “rich in what matters to God”?
GO EVANGELIZE
The antidote to our disordered attachment to material things is to cultivate Gospel simplicity. In sending his disciples out to spread the Gospel, Jesus often instructed them to “pack light”: “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money . . .” Jesus told his disciples (Lk 9:3). Instead, they were to go into the surrounding villages and rely on the hospitality of those they encountered to provide for all their needs. By carrying nothing with them, they learned to rely on God’s providence and to intentionally reach out to others from a place of vulnerability and humility, both necessary in sharing the Gospel. While we aren’t necessarily called to be itinerant preachers as the disciples were, we can take up Jesus’ call to “pack light” as we strive to share the Gospel with others in our daily lives.
REFLECT
What can we learn from the disciples about overcoming the temptation to think that we are self-sufficient, as if sharing the Gospel depends entirely on us, rather than his grace? How might we adopt a simpler lifestyle, so that others see in us a living witness to the fact that our hope is not here in this world, but in the life to come? Reflect about how to live Gospel simplicity more intentionally in your life this week, and what that might offer for your efforts to share the Gospel with others.
By The Faithful Disciple