In today’s Gospel, Mark 6:7-13, Jesus sends the disciples out on their first mission to preach repentance, cure the sick and expel unclean spirits. We do not know exactly where the disciples went or how long they were gone, but we do know that sometime later they reported to Jesus “all they had done and taught” (Mark 6:30). The disciples, sent out two by two, traveled lightly, stayed with locals and apparently were very successful in their first missionary experience. At this point in their spiritual development, the disciples became apostles.
A disciple is a follower or an imitator of someone, in this case a follower of Christ. An apostle is a special messenger or an envoy, chosen and trained to fulfill a specific mission, spreading the good news. The word apostle (apostolos) is Greek. Translated into Latin, it is missio, from which we get the word missionary. As baptized Christians, we are called to be both disciples and apostles. We hear and accept the teaching of Jesus and then we share our faith with others. In our second reading today from Ephesians 1: 3 – 14, St. Paul reminds us that each one of us is “chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.”
Our Church has an apostolic mission as well. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is "sent out" into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. "The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well." Indeed, we call an apostolate "every activity of the Mystical Body" that aims "to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth" (CCC 863).
God placed us in Peachtree City, Georgia. Our mission is to share the good news of the Kingdom of Christ right here.
God of justice and mercy,
you have set us free from the evil of sin
by the life and death and rising again
of your living reflection and Word,
Jesus Christ.
Let his life and message inspire us
to voice his truth and bring his freedom
to everyone on this earth.
Give us no other assurance
than that we proclaim his Good News
and that our companion on the road is
your own Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
