One of the biggest challenges I confront when traveling is what and how much to pack. The temptation is to throw everything into the suitcase – that extra shirt or pair of socks – just in case I might need them. Inevitably I pack too much. My role model for packing is a friend, Eddie, who joined the Missionaries of Charity Brothers back in 1975. His instructions were clear and succinct: bring one full change of clothing, a toothbrush, razor, comb and a Bible. For the eight years Eddie served with the Missionaries of Charity that is all he had. Everything he owned fit in a small backpack and he was free to go wherever the Lord Jesus led him.
God does not expect everyone to follow Eddie’s example. However, God does ask us to travel lightly through life. In today’s Gospel from Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 Jesus tells the 72 disciples to “carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” What does this mean for us? It means that we are not to carry excess baggage. We should not clutter up our lives with material possessions or become bogged down in the things of this life like bad habits or destructive relationships. What Jesus wants us to carry though life is his message that “the kingdom of God is at hand.” There is no need for baggage in the Kingdom of God. And the only reward we can expect is that our “names are written in heaven."
Saint Mother Teresa once said, “The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.” This is something we all should reflect on as we go about our daily lives.
As a mother comforts her child, O God,
you embrace a broken world;
you empower us - your Son’s disciples -
to bear your gift of peace to all peoples.
Let us go then, into your harvest
not as masters but as your laborers,
seeking not to be successful
but only to be faithful,
rejoicing that our names are written in heaven.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
AMEN.
