October 1, 2014
In the Gospel passage, St. Luke enumerates the hardships of the apostolic calling. First he says that the apostle/missionary should be ready to be sent anywhere, even far away from home. Wherever he goes, he should be prepared to stay in a nice house or in one that is quite bare. If he has to sleep on a hard bed, he must be prepared to do so. The number of meals he will eat may vary from day to day. In other words, he must be ready for discomforts, deprivations and hardships for love of Christ.
The second condition in becoming an apostle is to be able to cut off all familial ties. No matter how much he loves his family, the missionary puts the evangelization mission as first priority before his natural desire of being surrounded by the love and comfort of family. He has the duty to make people become children of God which is very important. He now surrounds himself with a bigger family – the Church, the Christian community.
Lastly, the apostle must be ready to do his mission for all his life. Once a missionary, always a missionary. Once we have decided to serve the Lord, we know it is a lifetime work. A father will always be father to his children, always husband to his wife, etc. When we start serving the Lord who has served us first, we realize our lives have no meaning apart from that service. So the missionary works tirelessly and cheerfully for the growth of the Church.
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