Lifestyle Adjustment

When Jesus sent out the twelve apostles, whose names we hear in today's Gospel, he called them to leave behind all that they knew: their livelihood, their families and their own plans and to embark on a mission to preach the kingdom of God. Their lives would never be the same again.

And so it is with us, when we seek to take the Gospel message seriously and try to align our lives carefully to the Lord's will for us: our lives change dramatically, too. The life of an apostle is one which is filled with a tension of opposites at every turn. The security of knowing the Lord's abiding presence is contrasted with the uncertainty of how the Gospel message will be received. The road is neither easy nor smooth for one who seeks to follow the Lord closely but the road -- when traversed mindfully, carefully, and prayerfully -- is always lined with the deep joy that comes with uniting our will to the Lord's will. And most will agree that the company, along this pilgrim road, is a priceless perk.

"Take notice, I pray you, Theotimus, how the life of the Apostles was filled with afflictions: in the body by wounds, in the heart by anguish, according to the world by infamy and prisons, and in all these,—O God! what Indifference they had! Their sorrow is joyous, their poverty rich, their death life-giving, their dishonor honorable, that is, they are joyful for being sad, content to be poor, strengthened with life amid the dangers of death, and glorious in being made vile, because—such was the will of God."

St. Francis de Sales