for July 8
Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Recently I took a long road trip to visit my father and family. I drove alone and stopped only briefly for gas and at rest stops along the way. I travelled through large parts of the Shenandoah Valley area and the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was careful about social distancing and wore a mask and gloves when outside of the car. But it was good to be out on the road again. There was a sense of being on the move into the beauty, mystery, and vastness of America. As I drove through mountains and valleys I felt God’s world all around me in the power and breathtaking beauty of the landscape. As I tried to pray along the miles it occurred to me that God’s Kingdom is big and diverse and much more wonderful and expansive than my limited imagination can ever conceive. Perhaps I had become more narrowly focused than usual after months of a mostly “interior” lockdown during the pandemic. There is a big world out there and God has shaped and sustains this world. This recent trip reminded me that the Kingdom is very near to us and that my—and our—vision often needs to be jarred open to see and experience more broadly and deeply. This is what all prayer may be about—moving beyond ourselves and our own perspectives and projects into those of God.

I recall this long drive through mountains and valleys in light of Matthew’s Gospel today. Jesus sends the twelve apostles out on a journey for mission. Here in Matthew the focus is on Israel—they are instructed to stay closer to home. Perhaps here Jesus encourages his apostles (and also us) to plan well, start with what we know, in order to get our feet on the ground first before departing for more difficult missions. Those on mission will then be better prepared to go wider and deeper into the unknown.  It may be that right now we are facing and living in a time of the unknown as we try our best to be Church in our present world that is suffering on so many levels. In this part of the Gospel it is significant that Jesus shares his own mission with his early followers. As they go out they are given power to heal and they depart with a new authority. I think often of the many health care professionals in our parish and around the world in these days as they minister to so many who need healing. In this part of the Gospel Jesus places limits on geography and tradition—the focus is Israel. I must say that I find this limitation confusing. Yet this narrowing of the mission context to Israel and the early Jewish Christians fits Matthew’s theology. However, this limitation is lifted at the end of the Gospel in the Great Commission where the mission is extended to the entire world, “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

A dear old friend of mine is a highly accomplished landscape painter. For many years she has worked outdoors painting the beautiful landscapes of upstate New York. She has also spent much time out in the Blue Ridge Mountain region completing an extraordinary serious of subtle and beautiful landscape paintings in oils and ink washes of this area. I admire my friend’s paintings and her extraordinary vision of the American landscape. My friend was raised in the Jewish tradition and for years we have talked together about prayer and the spiritual dimensions of art and painting. In conversations over the years she has demonstrated to me a deep spirituality that is part of her art that comes forth from long periods of silence and physical presence in the landscape. For her, going out is the only way that she is able to go into herself and into the mystery of life. Art has been and is her true mission in life and has formed how she sees and experiences the world and reality. But this going out is also closely connected to an enduring interiority—perhaps similar to what we continue to experience in these days. The apostles in Matthew are able to go forth on mission only after they have first spent time close to Jesus. Whenever I am with or able to speak with my artist friend I cannot help but think that she is sent out on an important mission to help others see the truth and beauty of creation in new ways. Her art work comes out of a long and rich tradition and it is for this reason she is able to see and create in new ways because her spiritual vision and experience is well grounded in the past. Jesus sends out the twelve onto mission with particular instructions but also with the promise of his enduring guidance and presence. In these days we too are sent out—each in different ways—to witness to what we have seen and heard and to share this good news with all the world.
–Francis T. Hannafey SJ

Today’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website.