…no food, no sack, no money in their belts. Mark 6:8
I have a hunch that most of us, as we head out for a trip, tend to overpack. Nowadays, I might find myself missing something on my arrival but usually because of a slip of memory and not because I wanted to lighten the load. The obsession to bring even more than I think I need may be innocent enough, but behind it I detect a desire to be sufficient unto myself. That runs pretty deep.
This may explain the instructions Jesus gives to his disciples as he sends them out. He tells them to travel lightly, to depend on the hospitality of others, to move on when things don’t go so well. All of these are aimed at freeing the disciples in various ways: from possessions, from a reluctance to depend on anyone other than oneself and from a preoccupation with success or failure. But these are just conditions for a greater freedom—to announce by word and action the sufficiency of God’s love and mercy.
Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A.
Originally published February 3, 2022
