For the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time…
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two …
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey
but a walking stick—
no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
Mark 6:7-8
This weekend, I’m packing for a week on the road to attend the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, July 17-21. Simultaneously tens of thousands of our fellow Catholics are prepping to do the same. I’m not exactly being minimalistic in my approach to the suitcase.
The National Eucharistic Congress describes this week as “an invitation to experience profound personal revival so we can be sent out to share Christ’s love with a world that so desperately needs it.”
This Sunday’s Gospel shows a pattern to Jesus’ training of his disciples. The first step was spending time living with him: to know him and to follow his ways. The second stage came when they were sent out to do the things he did.
After spending time in Indy with Jesus and his Church, both my husband and I expect to be sent to bring eucharistic revival back home to where we live. While we’ve been active Catholics for years, we know there is more we can do.
And more we can do without.
Please pray for revival in our Church, and for those taking part in this Congress. May this be a watershed event that pours grace upon grace on the Church and the nation. Pray that all may be made ready to rely wholly on God, as we open ourselves to wherever he sends us next.
Make us ready, Lord.
Pat Gohn
