Daily Gospel Reflections for Sep 23, 2026

SPEAKER_1 (0:26)

Thank you.

Thank you. My brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. September 23rd, 2026, Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrocina, Priest. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

SPEAKER_2 (0:56)

He called the Twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them out to preach God's kingdom, and to heal the sick. He said to them, Take nothing for your journey. No staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money.

Don't have two coats each. Into whatever house you enter, stay there and depart from there. As many as don't receive you, when you depart from that city, shake off even the dust from your feet for a testimony against them.

They departed, and went throughout the villages, preaching the good news and healing everywhere.

SPEAKER_1 (1:44)

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus summoned the twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 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.

When Jesus sends the twelve out to proclaim the kingdom of God, He gives them an important mission. They are to preach, heal the sick, and confront evil. These are not small responsibilities. Yet, His instructions about what they should bring are surprising. No walking stick, no sack, no food, no money, not even a second tunic. We might expect Jesus to tell them to prepare carefully for such an important journey. But instead, He asks them to travel carrying very little.

Jesus is teaching them where their confidence should come from. The disciples have already received power and authority from Him. What they need most for the mission is not something they can pack into a bag. It comes from Christ Himself. By sending them without the usual provisions, Jesus places them in the position where they must depend on God and accept help from the people they meet along the way.

They cannot rely entirely on their own resources or create a backup plan for every possible difficulty.

That can be uncomfortable for us because we often prefer the opposite. Before taking an important step, we want to know what will happen. We want enough money, enough preparation, enough knowledge, and some assistance that things will work out. There is nothing wrong with being responsible and preparing well. The problem begins when we believe we cannot move until every uncertainty has disappeared. Sometimes, we spend so much time preparing for what might happen, that we never respond to what God is asking of us today. The disciples did not receive a detailed plan for everything they would encounter. They were given a mission and told to go. They would have to discover the next part of the journey while leaving the first part. That takes trust. They had to believe that the one sending them knew what they would face even when they did not. Our journeys may look very different, but we can face the same struggle. We may feel called to help someone, but worry that we will say the wrong thing. We may know that we need to make a change, forgive someone, serve in a new way, or finally deal with something we have been avoiding. Yet, we hesitate because we do not feel ready. We tell ourselves that we need a little more confidence, a little more certainty, or a better time. Today's Gospel reminds us that following Jesus does not always begin by feeling ready.

The Twelve were ordinary men, carrying an extraordinary responsibility. What made their mission possible was not their ability to anticipate every problem. Jesus had called them, given them what they needed, and sent them. There is also freedom in Jesus' command to travel lightly. The more we insist on carrying everything ourselves, the heavier the journey becomes. We carry worries about tomorrow, fear of failure, the need to control outcomes, and the pressure to have answers before we begin. Some of these burdens were never meant to travel beside us. Faith sometimes means leaving them behind and taking the next step without knowing exactly what comes after it.

Jesus still sends his followers into the world. Most of us will not travel from village to village as the Twelve did, but we are sent into our families, workplaces, friendships, and communities. We proclaim God's kingdom through the way we treat people, the mercy we show, the help we offer, and the choices we make when nobody is watching. We do not need to have everything figured out before we can begin. Sometimes, the question is not whether we have enough for the journey. It is whether we trust the one who sends us.