Day 18: Sent Forth to Preach (Mark 3:13–19, Part Three)

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Wednesday, October 7, 2026

From being with to being sent

Yesterday we heard the first purpose of the call: "that they might be with him." Today, the second: "that he might send them forth to preach." The order matters. Sending flows from being with him. The very word apostle means "one who is sent." We cannot give what we have not first received.

We must be sent

Mission is not self-appointed. Jesus tells us to "ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest" (Lk 10:2). He sends. Through Baptism every Christian is sent: there is one commissioning, as missionaries, "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8; Mt 28:19–20). Pope Francis put it plainly: by virtue of Baptism, all of us are missionary disciples (Evangelii Gaudium 120). Every Mass ends with a sending: "Go forth."

Many ways, one mission

How we preach differs from person to person. As we heard yesterday, for some it is hidden prayer and penance; for others, teaching, service, or presence. In his Rule of 1221, St. Francis of Assisi wrote: "Let all the brothers preach by their deeds." The same spirit lives in a saying often attributed to him: "Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words." Pope St. Paul VI observed that people today listen more readily to witnesses than to teachers, and listen to teachers only when they are witnesses (Evangelii Nuntiandi 41). The testimony of a Christian rooted in deep faith, formed by Scripture, and nourished by the sacraments is invincible. We proclaim what we "have looked upon and touched" (1 Jn 1:1–3), and through loving words and actions we make him visible to others.

Why must the Word be preached?

Faith comes through hearing. "Faith comes from what is heard," and "how can people preach unless they are sent?" (Rom 10:14–17). When Peter preached at Pentecost, the hearers were cut to the heart and asked, "What are we to do, my brothers?" (Acts 2:37). Years later, when Paul and Silas witnessed in prison, the jailer fell before them and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). One heard a sermon, the other saw a witness; both were moved to ask. In Mark, proclamation of the kingdom comes first; the signs follow and confirm it.

The Word never returns empty. Like rain and snow that water the earth, God's word "shall not return to me empty" (Isa 55:10–11). When we read the Word, the Word reads us. Søren Kierkegaard called Scripture a mirror: the point is not to study the mirror but to see ourselves in it. "When you read God's Word," he wrote, "you must constantly be saying to yourself, 'It is talking to me, and about me.'" This echoes St. James, who warns against the one who looks at his face in a mirror and goes away forgetting what he saw (Jas 1:23–25). The Word is "living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword," able to discern the thoughts of the heart (Heb 4:12).

The Word forms conscience. Conscience is not merely feeling; it must be formed. The Catechism says that in forming conscience, the Word of God is "the light for our path," to be taken in through faith and prayer and put into practice (CCC 1785). Scripture gives us convictions that hold when feelings and culture shift, and renews the mind so we can test what is God's will (Rom 12:2).

The Word keeps us from sin. "How can the young keep his way without fault? Only by keeping your words" (Ps 119:9). "In my heart I treasure your promise, that I may not sin against you" (Ps 119:11). In the desert, Jesus answered each temptation with Scripture (Mt 4:1–11).

The Word guides discernment. "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path" (Ps 119:105). A lamp for the feet shows the next step, not the whole road. God's Word gives enough light to walk faithfully today.

The Word heals and frees. In this same passage, preaching comes paired with authority to drive out demons (3:15). "He sent forth his word to heal them" (Ps 107:20).

The Word is our food. "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4). If the Word is food, its absence is famine. Amos warns of a famine not of bread or water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. People wander from sea to sea seeking it and do not find it (Am 8:11–12). This is not only an event in Israel's past or a sign of the end times. It is a warning to any people, or any heart, that takes God's Word for granted. Where the Word is always available but never received, we grow numb, stop hungering, and soon cannot recognize sound teaching (2 Tim 4:3–4). The famine begins not when the Word disappears, but when we stop hearing it!

The Word gives hope. The Scriptures were written so that "by endurance and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope" (Rom 15:4).

The Word reveals Christ. St. Jerome: "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ" (quoted in Dei Verbum 25). We cannot preach one we do not know.

The Word consecrates. "Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth" (Jn 17:17). We need to live with the Word and be transformed by it, as by fire.

Preaching is not optional. "Woe to me if I do not preach it!" (1 Cor 9:16).

Ponder

• Do I see my Baptism as a sending, or only as a blessing received?

• What is the particular way the Lord is sending me to preach right now?

• Does my life make Christ visible to the people closest to me?

• When I read the Word, do I see myself in the mirror, or only look at the mirror?

• Do I hunger for the Word, or am I numb?

Closing: Our Lady of the Rosary

On October 7 the Church honors Our Lady of the Rosary. Mary is the first to receive the Word and the first to carry him to others, going in haste to Elizabeth (Lk 1:39). Through the mysteries of the Rosary she teaches us to ponder the Word until it sends us forth.

Lord of the harvest, you have called us to be with you and now send us forth. Let your Word take root in us, form our consciences, guard us from sin, and light our path, so that our words and lives may make you visible to others. Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us. Amen.