The Gospel Reading  for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time calls us to reflect again on the relationship between proclamation and witnessing.

In the encounter, where welcome and hospitality define the experience, God will provide what we need for the journey.

The message from Mark’s Gospel is to travel light and to discover the amazing presence in the awesome nothingness.

The weight of the luggage can block the freedom of the pilgrim and the volume of the paperwork can blur the clarity of the mission.

The call to travel light re-echoes the call of Catherine McAuley to put our trust in Divine Providence. Catherine also grappled with the uncertainties on the miles of her journey but in the giving and in the receiving, she lived our Mercy Mission in every encounter.

Trust in God is the food for the journey, the light on the path, the protection in the storm, the route to the encounter.

The blessing of unity still dwells amongst us and oh what a blessing; it should make all else pass into nothing… This is the spirit of the Order, indeed the true spirit of Mercy, flowing on us.. (Catherine McAuley to Elizabeth Moore, 1841)

Take nothing for the journey

 

Communications