“Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your purses: nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff; for the workman is worthy of his meat.”
That the temptation to sell love may never arise, Jesus expressly commands His Apostles not to possess riches in any form. He strips those closest to Him of all worldly cares, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you” (John 6:27) and worries concerning needs: “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33) that they may tend entirely to love. It is radical to live on and labor for love alone, yet here that is what Jesus commands His Apostles: To be dispossessed of riches that love may not be something to be sold, no bag that it may not seem that anything besides love is needed to walk through life. There is also instruction not to carry a second coat, that you may not hold onto what is excessive out of worry for future deprivation, when your loving Abba will always make sure you have enough: “And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30). Plato preceded Jesus in bidding leaving the feet unprotected, for he said that when the head and feet are in health, the rest of the body will be vigorous and healthy. So too does the call to leave one’s feet unshod show that health of body and soul is to be preferred to comfort, for seeking one’s own comfort easily inhibits love, but maintaining good health and living on love makes one walk bravely through even rocky territory with boldness. The staff is so that one’s love may not appear feeble and weak, but in leaning on the love of Jesus alone, one can walk upright: “Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?” (Canticle 8:5). The Lord, however, does not take away without giving something greater in return, for He is not a thief: “You are come out as it were to a robber with swords and clubs to apprehend me” (Matthew 26:55), but a lover. Therefore, He does not dispossess His followers of all temporal possessions and aid without giving gifts of healing in return, and so too does He not ask or command you to relinquish what you once held dear if He was not planning on giving you an abundant love and the ability to love in return: “But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8). He gives His Apostles one commandment, to love, and one office, to teach, of which He takes away any burden of worrying about what to say: “But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you” (John 14:26). O tremendous Lover! He asks for what harms the soul and in return gives an abundance of riches and a life of blessed simplicity, a life entirely immersed in love. Now, the Apostles in their littleness did not at the time understand the depth of this mystery and so might have been rightfully afraid at such strict deprivation, which Jesus in His gentleness soothes by saying that they will not go without, for the laborer deserves his food. Here there is a look into the magnificent, intertwined nature of the Catholic Church, for no one person is self-sufficient, but brings their gifts forward along with the others to make a net, rather than remaining a string. So the Apostles were given the ministry to provide spiritual goods for the people, dependent on their material goods, that all may be one in mutual love: “Be of one mind, having the same love, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment” (Philippians 2:2). Furthermore, that words of love alone may not be seen to be insignificant, He consoles them that this is a labor worthy of sustaining: “Learning to the prudent is an ornament of gold, and like a bracelet upon his right arm” (Ecclesiasticus 21:24); “Thy lips are as a scarlet lace: and thy speech sweet” (Canticle 4:3). Just as pay is due for soldiers for their service to one’s country, so too are the ones that labor for Love alone due the wages of the necessities of life: “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap carnal things?” (1 Corinthians 9:11). There is also a mystic meaning to this commandment, that you need be armed with the Gospel: “And take unto you… the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)” (Ephesians 6:17), but need be armed with it alone: “More than these [words], my son, require not. Of making many books there is no end: and much study is an affliction of the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). There is one book through which the Holy Spirit speaks to you directly: “And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend” (Exodus 33:11), which is Sacred Scripture, and the best reading beyond this should be to understand it more deeply that your listening to Him may be more beautiful and fill you with love. Thus the Lord exhorts not to carry with you into prayer the treasures of worldly wisdom, “for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19), a bag of cares: “Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you” (1 Peter 5:7), a second coat of non-Catholic thought: “I have not written to you as to them that know not the truth, but as to them that know it: and that no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:21), the shoes of irreverence and carelessness, simply thinking it to be an empty exercise: “Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5), or the staff of your own understanding: “Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence” (Proverbs 3:5). Rather, approach the reading of Sacred Scripture with a vulnerable, open, reverent spirit, coming to hear the words of God as a spouse and a friend, not reading as an intellectual exercise or a dry excursion, but realize that Jesus wants to talk to you. Let Him do so through reading His words: “With meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).