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 from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them."
The Catholic Church has traditionally defended the rights of ownership to land and possessions, even as it recognizes their limits. A farmer's right to property and its produce anchored Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum. Even as a farmer has a right to use to support his family, so should factory workers enjoy a wage sufficient to support their families.
But ownership necessarily has a spiritual quality. Most things are fungible; they do not obviously belong to anyone; and the world today is filled with disowned debris. Nobody wants it or claims it, and it piles up while we wait for a government -- any government -- to clear it away.
As I understand Australia's aboriginal were largely nomadic on that vast, flat, arid continent. Before the arrival of European settlers and ways, the indigenous people moved about freely. They wore little clothing and carried throwing sticks (straight ones flew straight while boomerangs turned in arcs). These sticks could bring down small prey or dig for underground water. What they couldn't carry they did not own, and they left no trash.
The Australian aborigines might fight over violations of personal dignity or women; but their feuds rarely ended in the death of anyone. Quarreling parties resolved their differences by shouting, threatening and some blows; and moved off in different directions. They were totally unprepared for the invaders' barbaric killing methods. Seeing their loved ones cut down by guns they didn't even know to flee.
Ownership of arid, unpromising land seemed to the Aboriginal even less useful. They had never cultivated land, sown seeds, or dug irrigation channels. Why would anyone claim a tract of land for their own when there were no natural landmarks anywhere in sight? Care for children and the aged was, of course, everyone's responsibility.
But it wasn't an easy life and not many knew their grandchildren, much less their great grandchildren. Cultivation of land and water resources, and gathering into cities where people might specialize their skills makes life easier for everyone. Our natural artistic abilities find more to work with than painted sticks and colored sand. And with farming comes ownership.
The Christian missionary -- and we're all missionaries in this brave new world -- reminds the world of the limits of ownership. We take nothing with us into eternity, and should not be burdened with too much stuff as we journey toward eternity. We may own it but it must never own us.
We have a mission; and often, ownership gets in the way.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.