GOSPEL POWER l SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 l WEDNESDAY

25th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Lk 9:1-6 

1 Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority  over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to  proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 He said to them, “Take  nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money —  not even an extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and  leave from there. 5 Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are  leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against  them.” 6 They departed and went through the villages, bringing the  good news and curing diseases everywhere. 

The missionary mandate of the Twelve is framed in the  paradox of power in weakness. Jesus delegates to them  his very own power and authority as Son of God. Yet they  are to exercise them in total dependence on the heavenly Father’s  providence. In that way, they themselves and the people they minister  to will not confuse those powers with worldly might. By their  poverty, the Twelve will give proof that they exercise those powers in  the name of God and not out of some worldly, self-serving interests.

 Lord Jesus, may we never detest the weakness of voluntary renunciation  but discover it, as all saints have done, as a storehouse of divine power.  Amen