Daily Gospel Reflection – Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
September 27, 2023
Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
Gospel: Lc 9:1-6
Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.
Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.
And as for those who do not welcome you,
when you leave that town,
shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them."
Then they set out and went from village to village
proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
*United States Conference of Catholic
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus sends his disciples on mission. He “summoned the Twelve . . . and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” As members of the Mystical Body, we share the mission of evangelization.
In accord with the subjectivism of our culture, many Christians think of their spiritual lives in an individualist way, as the cultivation of their personal friendships with God. But this overlooks something that the New Testament authors took for granted—namely, that Christians exist not for themselves but for the world.
Jesus compared his followers to salt, which is designed to preserve and enhance something other than itself, and to light, whose purpose is to be set on a stand in order to illumine what is around it. Pope St. Paul VI articulated the same truth as follows: the Church doesn’t have a mission; the Church is a mission.
We go forth, therefore, with God’s authority and empowered for his work. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ he will ask whether we have taught the world how to praise, how to reverence the truth, how to go out vigorously on campaign to extend the kingdom of God.
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