Deacon Larry

  Thursday of 10th Week in Ordinary Time

Feast of St. Barnabas

Acts:11; 21b – 26; 13: 1-5; Mt 10:7-13

Dc. Larry Brockman

“Without cost you received; without cost you are to give”.  These were Jesus words to his disciples as he sent them forward.  They are something all of us need to ponder.  Because almost all of us did, indeed, receive the gift of faith without cost. 

Not so in China, or Iran, or dozens of other places, where the cost of believing is certainly an issue.  How truly blessed we all are, whether our faith was handed down to us in Baptism as an infant, and nurtured by our parents, or acquired by us later in life through our own free choice.  It was basically without cost- free to us.  All we had to do was accept it, and move on.  Consider how costly accepting faith is for others, like the people in the places I mentioned. 

But, we have an awesome obligation as well- an obligation to spread that faith, also without cost, to others.  But what exactly does that mean?  Most of you, I am sure, do not consider yourselves evangelists.  But, by virtue of your Baptismal promise, you are.  And whether you like it or not, you have been given the opportunity already- your children, your co-workers, your friends, even your enemies.  They have all had the opportunity of relating to you, and observing first hand how and whether you project your faith.  Have you demonstrated it freely, and without charge?  Or do you hide it, keeping it to yourself? 

So, first of all, you give your faith freely by living it so that it is noticed by all by going out of your way to make your Sunday obligation; and by taking seriously what your Church teaches on issues and morals.  Second, our faith needs to be contagious- like a gift- something that others will seek out because they want what you have.  You do that by projecting joy, conviction, and above all, love, in what you do. 

Paul and Barnabas are great examples of evangelizers.  They exhibited these qualities, and their peers could not help but notice it.  Today’s society is absorbed in secularism.  All of you are called to be new Barnabases and Pauls, by sharing what you have, freely, and without cost. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 5:42 pm and is filed under Holy Family Weekday Homilies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.