Travel Light Enough For God To Use You

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends the seventy-two out, and then tells them: “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” In other words, do not take too much with you. Do not rely on everything you can control. Go with less. And maybe that is the theme for us today: sometimes the things we carry make it harder for God to send us. We carry our fears, our need to be understood, our plans, our pride, our old wounds, our need to have everything worked out first. And then we wonder why we feel stuck.

St Thérèse lived a hidden life in a convent and died at twenty-four. But she discovered what she called the “little way”: doing small things with great love, trusting that holiness is not about becoming impressive, but becoming available to God. She knew she could not do everything. She could not be the strongest, the greatest missionary, or the most extraordinary saint. So she chose something simpler: “I will love.” Maybe that is what Jesus is asking of the seventy-two too. Do not wait until you are perfect. Do not wait until you feel ready. Just go, and let God work through what you have.

And today we also begin October, a month dedicated to the Rosary and to Our Lady. Mary teaches us the same thing in a different way. At the Annunciation, she did not have a plan. She did not know how everything would unfold. She simply said, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” That is spiritual lightness. Mary did not carry the burden of having to control the future. She carried trust. And perhaps that is why God could do so much through her.

So maybe there are three questions worth carrying into this day. What do I need to let go of? Where is God asking me to go? And what small act of love is in front of me right now? We often look for a dramatic mission, but most of the time God gives us a person, a conversation, a duty, a hidden sacrifice. St Thérèse would say: do that with love. Mary would say: say yes. Jesus would say: go. Holiness is often much simpler than we make it.

Maybe the real challenge is not that God is asking too much of us, but that we are carrying too much already. And perhaps this October, the Lord is inviting us to become lighter: less controlled by fear, less weighed down by resentment, less obsessed with ourselves, and more available to love. Because when we travel light, there is more room for grace.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, show me what I am carrying that You never asked me to carry. Give me the trust of Mary, the simplicity of St Thérèse, and the courage of the disciples You sent out. Teach me to do the small things with great love and to go wherever You lead me. Amen.

– Homily by Rev. Fr. Patrick Agbeko