Embrace your discomforts

We like building our comfort zones.

Whenever there is something new in our horizon, the human instinct in us will hatch a plan to create our comfort zones out of the choices available to us. This is just the human way of building personal empires for ourselves.

Whenever we are given a space be it a geographical, digital, or psychological, instinct will direct us to modify these spaces according to our likes.

We modify the colors and shapes that we would like to see for we all have individual preferences. We carve relationships according to how we want people get involved in our lives. We design our appearances on the social media. Every dealings we make in this life, every decision, every step are all influenced by our personal empires, our comfort zones.

Comfort zones could be

…the house we come home to,

…the space we hibernate in,

…the person we cannot live without,

…the environment without which we could lose our sense of purpose,

…the family we have,

…the work we came to love deeply through time,

…the trappings of power that came from the familiarity we have developed and cultivated,

…and even the preconceptions we have of ourselves.

We all have comfort zones.

Comfort zones are our refuge. They are our go-to. They are the elements we would like always to be there, the elements which are ready at our disposal when the other aspects of our lives go wrong.

However, comfort zones also diminish wisdom when unchecked. Comfort counters wisdom when it begins to get into the person. Wisdom is attained in the most uncomfortable instances and places. Life’s lessons are learned when we get out from our comfort zones. There is more to life when we go out and explore beyond the horizon of our stagnation and hibernation.

Life is not limited to the point of view from the window of our homes. Opportunities are always found outside the door. Wisdom can oftentimes be found outside the box. Greater love could be found from other people who will give us value than the ones that surround us.

Absolute comfort could blind us in as much as absolute power corrupts.

This is what Jesus would like the disciples to avoid. He would like his disciples to grow in wisdom and total dependence on God alone and not on material things that perish.

Jesus cites 3 ways to avoid absolute comfort.

1. Material Discomfort. “He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick— no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.”

Wisdom could arise when we have nothing on our pockets. As they say, the best teacher is and empty wallet. A person’s true character comes into the surface when he or she has nothing.

2. Psychological Discomfort. “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.”

Wisdom could arise when we are rejected, when our preconceptions and expectations are not meant with satisfaction. If we want to discover the true character of a person, challenge his or her insecurities. If you want the true colors to come out, put that person into situations of pressure.

Guess what the third is......

3. Emotional Discomfort. “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two.”

This discomfort appeals to the personal differences of the disciples sent in pairs. While the mission is best done in synergy and cooperation, there will always be human conflicts caused by differences.

Wisdom is attained in conflicts. When two different values are at odds from one another, it creates an atmosphere of tension. It takes serious restraint and discernment to get out, and get by this situation. When one knows how to restrain and discern and act as the upper hand, wisdom is attained. That person became a little wiser than he was.

In our first Reading, Amos was told by Amaziah to go and preach in Israel, the place where prophets are rejected. Amos was challenged to take on a more daunting task over a comfortable ministry in Bethel " for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.” Amos too was asked to take discomfort. Our second reading narrates how Jesus was sent by God, in wisdom and insight, to be our source for wisdom purpose.

Jesus challenges us to identify our comforts and not to cling on them as absolute. They are gifts to be cherished but they must not define us. Jesus challenges us to embrace our discomforts.

Embrace our discomforts? To what end?

Discomfort leads us to the Kingdom, towards the Lord who tells us to carry our cross and follow him. The discomforts that we experience in this life are assurances that the Kingdom is coming because discomforts are momentary and they belong alone to human language.

We embrace our discomforts in the here and now in order to bring out the pure form in us. This pure form is all what God asks from us. Nothing more.

Discomforts bring out the purest selves in us makes us receptive to wisdom.

If we want to be His disciples, we must be ready to strip ourselves of earthly comforts, to lie naked before God with our pure forms, and be ready to be transformed into our best versions.

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READINGS (FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME)

FIRST READING

Am 7:12-15

Amaziah, priest of Bethel, said to Amos,

“Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!

There earn your bread by prophesying,

but never again prophesy in Bethel;

for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”

Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet,

nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;

I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.

The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,

Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Ps 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14

R. (8) Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

I will hear what God proclaims;

the LORD—for he proclaims peace.

Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,

glory dwelling in our land.

R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

Kindness and truth shall meet;

justice and peace shall kiss.

Truth shall spring out of the earth,

and justice shall look down from heaven.

R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

The LORD himself will give his benefits;

our land shall yield its increase.

Justice shall walk before him,

and prepare the way of his steps.

R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

SECOND READING

Eph 1:3-14 or Eph 1:3-10

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ

with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,

as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,

to be holy and without blemish before him.

In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,

in accord with the favor of his will,

for the praise of the glory of his grace

that he granted us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption by his blood,

the forgiveness of transgressions,

in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.

In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us

the mystery of his will in accord with his favor

that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times,

to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

In him we were also chosen,

destined in accord with the purpose of the One

who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will,

so that we might exist for the praise of his glory,

we who first hoped in Christ.

In him you also, who have heard the word of truth,

the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him,

were sealed with the promised holy Spirit,

which is the first installment of our inheritance

toward redemption as God's possession, to the praise of his glory.

Or: [Shorter Form]

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ

with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,

as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,

to be holy and without blemish before him.

In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,

in accord with the favor of his will,

for the praise of the glory of God's grace

that he granted us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption by his blood,

the forgiveness of transgressions,

in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.

In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us

the mystery of his will in accord with his favor

that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times,

to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

ACCLAMATION BEFORE THE GOSPEL

cf. Eph 1:17-18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our hearts,

that we may know what is the hope

that belongs to our call.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Mk 6:7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two

and gave them authority over unclean spirits.

He instructed them to take nothing for the journey

but a walking stick—

no food, no sack, no money in their belts.

They were, however, to wear sandals

but not a second tunic.

He said to them,

“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave.

Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,

leave there and shake the dust off your feet

in testimony against them.”

So they went off and preached repentance.

The Twelve drove out many demons,

and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.