Let us proclaim God’s truth.

The meaning of what we heard in today’s Gospel is probably this for us too: The Lord sends us to proclaim his truth. The words that we don’t need anything special are also true for us.

This applies to everyone, not just priests. We are obliged to pass on the faith we have received. It would not help us if we wanted to argue like Amos in the Old Testament, he is a shepherd, and not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet. Answering the call of God; living and preaching the Gospel was not always without hesitation. Some argued or ran away from the burden of the mission. And the response of those to whom the prophets were sent? It was a mockery, a misunderstanding. This is how the apostles tried with the message of Jesus, this is how priests, Christian parents and lay people try. One of you objects: Wouldn’t it be better if God himself revealed himself directly to everyone, if he did not send as his messengers people with faults and shortcomings? After all, they only overshadow his message.

A great burden in the life of a prophet, priest and apostle is the awareness of one’s own imperfection and the constant fear that people will reject God’s message because of human shortcomings and mistakes. Even a priest is only human, he will fall due to human weakness, but what is the response of those to whom he only wanted good? Believers laugh at him, throw logs under his feet, spread his mistakes, but there is also a small percentage of good, faithful ones who stand up for him and help him to rise with prayer. God’s answer to this fear of falling is always the same: “Go and proclaim: The kingdom of heaven is at hand…” (Mt 10:7).

God wants to save the people, but he wants to save them together as one community. God offers us cooperation in the work of salvation, cooperation with his grace and cooperation between us. The great joy of redemption is that we are redeemed together. And he sends us all to proclaim his message to the world. All believers are sent by Christ to preach the Gospel, each in his own way.

A special feature of the mission is community. The Lord sends his two by two and sends them into homes to bring peace there. Family apostolate is the first-class path of the Church. The Lord sends you, parents, two at a time to your families to spread his peace, greeting and blessing: “Peace to this house!” Say this first for your house and for your family. This is how you should greet your new apartment, your new house, your household today after St. mass and every day. And spread this gift of peace to your neighbors and familiar families. They don’t expect big gifts from you when you visit. The most beautiful gift during a visit are kind words imbued with peace that the world cannot give.

Not only the great preachers were responsible for spreading the faith, but all those who believed and lived according to it. The success of a preacher does not lie in how beautifully he delivers his sermon, but in what you take away, what you let enter your heart.

Abraham Sancta Clára writes in one of his books about a woman who served her husband as a confessional mirror. Instead of questioning his conscience, he listened to the woman and she immediately calculated all his sins and shortcomings.

I don’t mention it to make anyone do it that way, but there is something about it. Our faults are best seen by those who oppose us. It has certainly happened that you have heard from a person who is against religion, with what he justifies it. Usually by not living up to what we profess.
Can anyone discern from our behavior that our religion is a religion of love and forgiveness, when we hold the grudges of generations, when we are able to turn our backs on misery without giving advice, help, a good word, consolation, or opening a purse? How is the world supposed to believe that Christianity preaches love for enemies, when many times we do not even have love for those closest to us? How is an unbeliever supposed to know the greatness and majesty and power of our God when we have so little respect for him? When do they hear us say his name? Isn’t it most often in anger and irritation?

In the book Lust for Life, the author compares the humanity of today’s world to a group of tourists on the way to the mountains. After a certain time of ascent, three groups of people will begin to appear. The first ones regret that they went on this walk at all. They say it’s not worth the effort, the risk. They are coming back. The second group has no regrets. On the contrary, they are happy that the weather is nice, that nature is illuminated by the sun. But after a while they also ask themselves a question. Why go even higher? Why bother with those endings? Here is a nice lawn, a nice view, let’s lie down, unpack our supplies and enjoy all the beauty of the surroundings and nature. The third group – real alpinists! They are people who are not deterred by obstacles, fatigue, heat, thirst. They are passionate, they want to conquer the top, they want to overcome themselves.