LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: Amos 7:12-15
Responsorial psalm: Ps 84(85):9-14
Second reading: Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13
Link to readings
Our readings this week invite us to reflect on the wonder of being chosen to be part of God’s plan. In the First Reading, we hear how Amos, a shepherd, responds to God’s call to bear witness. Despite not being welcomed, he stands his ground, knowing that he has been given his mission by the Lord.
The Psalmist, giving thanks for the blessings his people have received, rejoices in the peace, justice, mercy, faithfulness and prosperity that God gives to those who trust in him. In the Second Reading, St Paul explains to the Ephesians how we have always been a part of God’s plan. Because of the grace and blessings showered upon us, we have been freed from our sins and become adopted children of God.
Mark’s Gospel relates how Jesus sends out his disciples to teach his message of love and forgiveness. Carrying nothing but a staff, they are to trust that they will find welcome and hospitality in many places, and stay undeterred by the rejection they will find elsewhere.
This week we pray for the wisdom and insight to recognise the call of the Lord in our own lives. However ill-equipped we might feel, we ask for the courage and strength to step out, safe in the knowledge that we are never alone, and that God will provide for us.
PSALM 84 (85)
R./ Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help
I will hear what the Lord God has to say;
a voice that speaks of peace, peace for his people.
His help is near for those who fear him,
and his glory will dwell in our land.
Merciful and faithfulness have met;
justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth,
and justice look down from heaven.
The Lord will make us prosper
and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him,
and peace shall follow his steps.
REFLECTION
I take time to settle myself in the place where I have chosen to pray today. I take a couple of deeper breaths – breathing in God’s loving welcome and, if I can, letting go of any concerns or anxieties I may be carrying. When I feel ready, I slowly read the words of the psalm. Repeating them, I may find it helpful to make the words my own: ‘Let me see, O Lord, your mercy, and give me your saving help.’
As the Psalmist offers thanks for the gifts his people have been given, so too, I may like to pause for a while to rejoice in all the gifts that I have received, and offer thanks for God’s goodness to me. If, for any reason, I find this hard at the moment, I might want just to allow God’s peace to surround and enfold me – saying nothing ... asking nothing ... simply being.
Eventually, I may want to ponder again the characteristics of God’s love: peace, mercy, faithfulness, justice, prosperity. As I look back, it may be that I can recall times when I’ve known these things in my own life, and give thanks in my own words as I close my prayer.
GOSPEL
Mark 6: 7–13
Then Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic’. And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away, shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.
REFLECTION
As I enter into prayer today, I spend a moment becoming aware of God’s gaze on me, and offer thanks for this time with the Lord. Reading the Gospel text slowly, I may like to construct the scene in my mind. I see Jesus with the disciples gathered around him, and I find a place for myself – perhaps looking on, or even as one of the disciples.
I read the text a second time, hearing Jesus’s words, and imagining what the disciples might be saying in response. ‘You can’t really mean me, Lord? . . . What if we can’t find shelter or food? . . . How will we know what to say?’ Is there something I want to say? Are there questions I need to ask Jesus?
As I read for the third time, I watch what the disciples do in response to what they have heard. How do they feel about the mission Jesus has outlined for them? Excited . . . nervous . . . fearful ... or something else? How do I feel about the mission Jesus has given to me? Or perhaps I’m still unclear about where my path lies? I take time to ponder.
Are there things I need to let go of in order to free myself for whatever God has planned for me? erhaps there is something I feel I need to support me on the journey that the Lord is inviting me to take? I speak to the Lord from my heart, and listen to what he might be saying to me. I end my prayer slowly, thanking God for the love with which he fills me, and asking for the courage to follow wherever his Spirit leads.
Courtesy of St Beuno’s Outreach in the Diocese of Wrexham, UK