“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.”

Some years ago, when I was Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Louisville, we were hosting a reception in the undercroft below the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville for those who had been recently ordained. I was approached by two slightly disheveled young men who were seminarians for the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). They explained that they were on a sort of pilgrimage directed by their order (the Jesuits) across the country from California to Boston (if I remember correctly). It was just the two of them and part of the journey was that they were to carry no money (or credit cards). If I recall correctly, they didn’t even have cell phones. They were to rely only on the generosity of strangers for everything: food, shelter, and transportation. There was no preplanning. The previous night, they’d spent at the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown. Or course, we fed them and they made connections for lodging that night. They had no idea where they’d spend the next night. I was more than a little incredulous. As someone responsible or the well being of seminarians, my thoughts turned to safety, practicality, and liability. Surely, they had to sign some sort of a waiver? But, even then, was this the wise thing to do? Wouldn’t prudential judgment preclude sending young seminarians out on such a radical mission without a safety net? It seemed dubious.

It was also, however, inspirational and a call to faith. As inspirational, I saw my own response and the response of others in generosity to their need. They elicited in us a desire to respond. Jesus says, “The poor you will always have with you.” That is for our good. We need the poor to draw out of us a generosity to give for the needs of others. It is essential to our salvation. Our horizons can become so constricted by our wants, needs, and desires that we need the poverty of others to awaken us to generosity and charity. As a call to faith, it also deepened my sense of God’s providence. A quote attributed to St. Augustine states, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” The temptation for me is to write God out of the equation altogether. To just work as though everything depended on me. These young seminarians reminded me to live according to another saying I had heard in college, “Live a life that, without God, wouldn’t make sense.” It awakened in me a new trust in God’s providence. I can’t possibly promise, as I did at my ordination, to live a life of celibacy, obedience, and simplicity of life without God’s grace. It is no less incredulous than a pilgrimage cross country!

For all of us, it is a challenge, whether from these young men or from the Gospel reading, to let go of all the things we hold on to for security. Step out into the deep! I recently rewatched Fight Club (for mature audiences only), which reminded me of a pertinent quote, “You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your…khakis.” Let go! Live a life that doesn’t make sense if God is not real. Take the step of faith. No food, no sack, no money in your belt. Trust in God! God alone.