The Commissioning of the Twelve

瑪竇福音 10:7-15 - 聖本篤（院長）（紀念）

留意宗徒是在什麼時候被派遣。當他們看過死者復活，風浪被平息以及其他奇蹟，在言語和行為上都見證過耶穌的大能以後，耶穌才派遣他們。我們要憑那位看不見的主宰賜的信德才能走近天國，沒有其他方法。在天上的聖人聖女就是憑著信德，全心愛天主而被舉揚。

耶穌賦予宗徒能力讓他們醫治病人，潔淨癩病人，復活死人和驅逐邪魔，讓這些奇蹟引證他們所宣講的話。宗徒們所行使的能力是耶穌完全交託給他們的，他們是照亞當和天主的肖像被造，現在更獲得了基督完美的肖像；撒旦帶給亞當的罪惡現在已藉著與天主的大能的共融而被修補。這些奇蹟為教會的初期是必需的；信徒的信德要靠奇蹟來維持，藉此增長。但到了後來，奇蹟因為信仰得到確立而變得罕見；天主通常在邪惡的勢力增加時行奇蹟，以彰顯祂的大能。聖教會每天都以屬靈的方式行當天宗徒所做的事；這甚至更為偉大，因為她醫治人的靈魂而非身體。

屬靈的恩賜如果要用其他東西來交換的話，便被貶低了，因此耶穌補充了一句譴責貪婪：「你們白白得來的，也要白白分施」；彷彿在說：「我作為你的主人和天主，把這些能力白白賜給你們，因此你們也要同樣分施給他人，令福音的恩寵不被沾污」。如果他們不因為償報而傳揚福音，他們便不需要擁有金銀和財富。如果他們擁有這些，便會為了得到利益而傳福音，而不是為了使人得救。耶穌要宗徒放棄財富，幾乎要他們連基本的需要也不理。宗徒教導人「天主自會照料」，因此也要以身作則，表明他們不為未來憂慮。

今天教會紀念聖本篤（院長），他是西方隱修之祖。他最為人熟悉的成就是撰寫了《聖本篤會規》，這是為渡隠修生活的人寫成的一系列訓誡，旨在令他們更親近天主。

Matthew 10:7-15 - Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot

Observe the timing in which the Apostles are sent. After they had seen the dead raised, the sea rebuked, and other like wonders, and had had both in word and deed sufficient proof of Jesus' power, then He sends them. The kingdom of heaven is said here to draw close by the faith in the unseen Creator which is bestowed upon us, not by any visible means. The saints are rightly denoted by the heavens, because they contain God by faith, and love Him with affection.

Lest the untaught and illiterate should obtain credit when they announced the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus gives the Apostles power to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils, that the greatness of the miracles might back up the greatness of their promises. This exercise of the Lord's power is wholly entrusted to the Apostles, that they who were formed in the image of Adam, and the likeness of God, should now obtain the perfect image of Christ; and whatever evil Satan had introduced into the body of Adam, this they should now repair by Communion with the Lord's power. These signs were necessary in the beginning of the Church; the faith of the believers must he fed with miracles, that it might grow. But afterwards miracles ceased when a reverence for the faith was universally established Or if they were continued at all, they were few and seldom; for it is usual with God to do such things when evil is increased, then He shows forth His power. The Holy Church daily does spiritually, what it then did materially by the Apostles; things far greater, as she raises and cures souls and not bodies.

And because spiritual gifts would be cheapened if they need to be bought, Jesus adds a condemnation of greed; 'Freely you have received, freely give'; I your Master and Lord have imparted these to you without price, therefore you give them to others in like manner, that the free grace of the Gospel be incorrupted. For if they preach without receiving reward for it, the possession of gold and silver and wealth was unnecessary. For had they had such, they would have been thought to be preaching, not for the sake of men's salvation, but their own gain. As Jesus had cut off riches, which are meant by gold and silver, He now almost cuts off necessities of life; that the Apostles, teachers of the true religion, who taught men that all things are directed by God's providence, might show themselves to be without thought for the future.

Today is the feast day of St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of Western monasticism. His most well-known achievement is his "Rule of St. Benedict", a set of precepts for living communally under an abbot to achieve union with God, further bringing the practices of Christian monasticism from Egypt to the West. Besides the Benedictines, this rule is used to this day by the Camaldolese Hermits, Cistercians, Trappists, and many laypeople.

References:
Matthew 10:7-15, Catena Aurea (St. Thomas Aquinas)