The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

July 14, 2024 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 6:7-13

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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After reading today’s gospel, I thought it might be included in a book called “Practical travel advice for committed Christians.”

Last week we read about Jesus addressing the local congregation in Nazareth, the town where he grew up. He spoke as an individual. Sort of a one-man performance.

But in this Sunday’s gospel Jesus instructs his disciples on how they were to spread his message and carry out his work after he is gone A key aspect of his directive was telling them to go out into the world “two by two.”

I had a priest friend (and pastor) who once told me that his basic evangelical work as a priest was what he called “the ministry of being present to others.” So, besides his liturgical roles, he also felt that he also had to know, and hopefully be a friend to all the members of his parish.

He loved to chat with everyone after Mass, parishioners and visitors alike. He also loved visiting the homes of his flock. Or anyone, for that matter. When we first moved to his parish, I asked a diocesan official what our new pastor was like. His quick answer was memorable and totally accurate. He said that if you had a party, he (our pastor) would be someone that you should invite. In other words, he loved people. And it showed.

I tried over the years to have much that same spirit in the classrooms when I taught. I wanted my students to know that I was friendly and approachable. That I was interested in them. I felt in doing so they would be more receptive to what I was teaching.

Back to Jesus and his directive to his first disciples. He told them to take the message he had given them and share it with those they meet in their travels. Accept their hospitality (an important Christian virtue) and if they are unreceptive, simply leave and move on.

I believe that a great deal of our personal message about God is passed on wrapped in ordinary interpersonal encounters with others. This happens in families, neighborhoods, workplaces, neighborhoods, even while shopping for groceries. Our personal ministry begins and mostly happens in everyday loving encounters with others. That’s how the church and our faith is shared and becomes real in the world.     

David M. Thomas, PhD