You Wake up as One of the Twelve.

The Good News for the Day, September 27, 2017
Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time (451)

Jesus summoned His closest friends and followers—the “Twelve” — and gave them the power as well as the authority to control every evil force and to cure ailments; He sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God publicly and to heal people who had things wrong with them. He said to those He was sending: “Take nothing for the trip, No stick for walking and defense, no provisions, no food nor money, and let no one take a change of clothes. Any house you enter, stay in it, and then leave from it. As for people who don’t welcome you–when you leave that community—shake its dust from your feet as a public symbol against them.” They then set out and went from small town to small town, proclaiming the Good News and curing things wrong with people everywhere. (Luke 9)

Hidden within these details is a broader brush of the Message—the freedom you have about the Good News—to be Yourself AND an apostle. Jesus is not sending you out to travel in trips that preach the Good News—He is urging you, when and wherever you live, to preach free of complications, free of the usual burdens of a professional preacher or even a “good person.”

Consider just waking up and being part of your family, your work, your environment—meeting the moment with nothing else but YOU. No crutches- (walking stick). No defensiveness. No “sack” of psychological cargo. No (exchange) money to buy conversion—your goodness expects no repayment—you aren’t buying souls. No change of clothes—you live in the moment—now—no need to change into “better clothes”—some nicer behavior.

It is all about here and now. Just be you, Jesus says, and preach acceptance of others, preach caring and joy, preach humility, service and love—by what you are—by what you do more than by what you say. You need no props, no pedestal, no uniform, no “backups.” Some won’t get it—so go on.

You have power—and authority—to free others, to change lives. How? Just by Being a Child of God. You will cure many hearts.