Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
February 7, 2019
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.”
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
In the Gospel today, Jesus gives his disciples simple instructions for their journey ahead. As he sends them out in pairs to preach his word, he instructs them that they need nothing more than a walking stick for their journey; they should leave behind money, food, even an extra set of clothes.
This might seem like the call to simplicity that is having its cultural “moment” in 2019. Following the release of Marie Kondo’s Netflix special, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, on January 1, social media is abuzz with commentaries on how to “KonMari” your life: scale back on possessions, clean out the clutter, and live a life less burdened by the heavy weight of material goods. KonMari practitioners keep only items that pass a certain test, which is discerning if they “spark joy.” Not surprisingly, this call to inventory and simplify your life can feel anything but simple!
Jesus’ instruction to his disciples, however, is the essence of simplicity. On our journey, all we really need is trust in God alone. We don’t need the latest computer, the newest car, or closets full of clothes. We don’t need that memorabilia in the basement or that free conference water bottle. Nor do we need to judge the worth of what we own by some arbitrary standard set by others. Not only do all these things, and the judgments of others, clutter our lives and weigh us down, but, of greatest concern, they can distract us from what will really “spark joy”—true joy—our connection to God through Christ himself.
Like the disciples, we need take next to nothing for the journey: a walking stick and trust in God. That is enough.
Prayer
Lord, today you send your disciples out on mission, to spread the good news that the kingdom of God is now among us. You sent them two-by-two. Grant us both the zeal to spread the message of your Gospel wherever you have placed us in life, and grant us the support and encouragement of companionship in faith, that we may never lose heart in our daily efforts on your behalf. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Eugénie Smet was born on March 25, 1825, the third of six children of Henri Smet in Lille, in the north of France.
Eugénie was a bright, lively child who was deeply in love with her faith from a young age.
She was filled with great concern for the souls in Purgatory since the image of the suffering in Purgatory smote her heart.
As Victor Hugo charts in Les Miserables, the France in which Eugénie was living was a time of great misery and poverty in the years leading up to the Revolution of 1848. Eugénie, however, safely ensconced in the boarding school at Sacré-Coeur in Lille, remained unaware of these great sufferings.
Slowly, she began to minister to the poor around her in her small French village of Loos. She asked her father for permission to take the fallen fruit from his orchard and give it to the hungry of the village.
The Catholic Church, formerly very influential in France before the revolutions, had become a remnant of its former self. The Church was rebuilding itself by reaching out to the poor and offering material, charitable assistance. Eugénie threw herself into this work of charity and into the sacramental life of the Church. She began to attend Mass daily and dedicated her life to God.
Interestingly, her greatest efforts of aid were directed to the poor who were not physically present in France. For example, she assisted the bishop in raising money for missions in China, and she held the strong belief that the souls in Purgatory were in great need of prayers.
Eugénie felt the call to create a religious order that would dedicate itself solely to praying for these poor suffering souls. As Eugénie prayed and sought the necessary permissions to create her order, she received great encouragement from St. John Vianney, which she took as a sign to continue. Eugénie met with Abbé Largentier, a priest in Paris who had started a small community dedicated to praying for souls in Purgatory.
Eugénie was hopeful Abbé Largentier could help her begin a religious order of sisters to pray for souls in purgatory, but Abbé Largentier insisted that Eugénie’s order could only succeed by starting a school. Eugénie was dissatisfied with this, and she prayed for direction. In 1856, she found a house in Paris that was for rent, and she persuaded the owner to let the house to her, despite having no liquid assets.
Eugénie took the name Mary of Providence and she became the head of the community, The Helpers of the Holy Souls. The Helpers began to go out into the suffering community around them and prayed with and cared for the men and women in the inner city of Paris who suffered from alcoholism, abandonment, and great physical and mental duress. The Helpers offered up their charity work for the souls in Purgatory, thus hoping to alleviate two forms of suffering at once. Their rule was formally accepted in 1859.
Eugénie’s order was bursting with new vocations, and she opened several other houses. In 1867, a brave cohort of thirty sisters traveled to China to begin a house of Helpers there.
Eugénie died on February 7, 1871, in Paris. Her movement has spread throughout the world and continues to minister to the souls in the Body of Christ—both those on earth and those who have departed this world.
Blessed Eugénie Smet, helper of all Christian souls—pray for us!
Image Credit: Image of Blessed Eugénie via Society of Helpers UK