Amos 7:12-15; Ps 84 (85); Eph 1:3-14; Mk 6:7-13

God’s choices are unpredictable, as Amos recalls by narrating his own vocation: “I was not a prophet or son of a prophet… The Lord took me while I was following the flock.” You cannot prepare for prophetic ministry, nor is it inherited; rather, we allow ourselves to be surprised and transformed by the initiative of God that ‘ takes us ‘, it tears us away from what we are living to deliver us to a future that finds its guarantee only in listening obediently to the word that calls and sends us. At the same time, this imponderable action is not arbitrary or capricious. It has its own consistency: it manifests itself in our life as a blessing – Saint Paul reminds the Ephesians – and makes us a sign of God’s blessing for others. The twelve, from the moment they are delivered to the mission, are stripped of everything. They can carry with them only the stick and the sandals, sign of their being pilgrims and foreigners to the ways of the world.  They are sent two by two with the commitment to stay in the houses: what they bring with them is in fact the blessing of the relationship and of the fraternity. The gospel, offered and welcomed, creates new relationships. Here is the real good to take with you and share with others.

Commentary by the Comunità di Dumenza
Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey