In today’s Gospel, we hear the commissioning of the twelve apostles from St. Luke’s account. Within the commissioning, Our Lord commands the Apostles not to take anything for the journe,y with the mind that all that is needed will be provided for them:
“He said to them, ‘Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Luke 9:3-5.
For today, I want to dwell on this simple truth: When the Lord gives us a mission, He is calling us to radical reliance on Him. The mission He gives us is not something that is to be done of our own accord, relying on our own strength, to further our prideful view of ourselves. No. The mission that we are given is for the salvation of souls.
Salvation of souls is not something that we bring about through our own power but, instead, through correspondence with God’s grace. When He gives us our mission, we are to abandon everything to Him so that we realize that it is not us doing the work, but Him in us.
This makes room for us to not retain any glory for ourselves and instead, give all glory back to God, apart from Whom we can do nothing!1
Today, let us dwell on the fact that God has called each of us to witness to others according to our state in life for the salvation of their souls as well as our own. But we are not to rely on ourselves or on the things of this world. Abandon all to God, and He will bring your work to its completion. I offer to the reader one of my favorite prayers, which I pray most every day. It is called the Prayer of Abandonment by Bl. Charles de Foucauld:
Father,
I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
For I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands,
Without reserve,
And with boundless confidence,
For you are my Father.
Amen.
For more from Dr. McGovern, visit his Substack at A Thomist, Dedicated to the Theological tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Exploring Thomas' Spiritual Theology and topics in Christology and Mariology.
Cf. John 15:5.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful prayer.
Such a beautiful prayer. Complete in everything. a prayer which contains everything.