14 February 2026 – Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius
Acts 13:46-49; Luke 10:1-9
Homily
In the Gospel, we have two versions of Jesus sending His disciples on mission: the first, common to the three synoptic Gospels, is addressed to the twelve Apostles; the other, longer version, from which we have just read a passage, is addressed to the seventy-two disciples. This Gospel account is very appropriate for the celebration of Saints Cyril and Methodius, apostles to the Slavic peoples.
Jesus wants all His missionaries – all His disciples – to be authentic pilgrims, that is, people who are totally committed to their mission, who go straight ahead, looking ahead, without being distracted by anything interesting they may encounter along the way: ‘Take no money, no bag, no sandals, and do not greet anyone on the road.’
The person who has attained this inner freedom, who has reconciled himself with his personal poverty, is a person filled with peace who can therefore transmit peace to others. ‘Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace be to this house.” If there is a friend of peace there, your peace will rest upon him; if not, it will return to you.’ Peace is shared between free people. Those who do not have this freedom, who are still slaves to their desires, are often a source of tension, if not conflict.
Paul, whose mission with Barnabas was recalled in the first reading, was one of these pilgrims, one of these poor people. Unlike all the other Apostles, Paul never seems to have been at the head of a local church. He founded several, moving constantly from one to another, placing other people at the head of the communities he founded, and immediately moving on to another mission. He was rooted in his love for Christ and in Christ's love for him, as well as in his willingness to suffer for Christ, whom he loved so much that he could say: ‘May the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ remain my only pride.’
This message applies not only to preachers of the Gospel but to all disciples, including us monks. Let us remember that in the Gospel, Jesus asks for radical detachment from anyone who wants to follow Him: ‘Let the dead bury their dead; as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.’ To be rooted – rooted in Christ – it is necessary to be free from other ties. This is the vocation not only of those who are called to preach the Good News, but also of ascetics who are called to live in solitude.
At the beginning of his Rule, Saint Benedict speaks of the various categories of monks. He mentions cenobites (those who practise communal living), for whom he writes his Rule, and hermits, for whom he has great respect when they are authentic. He also speaks of ‘gyrovagues’, a word that refers to people who constantly move from one place to another, driven not by the Spirit of God but by their whims and instincts.
However, there is a radical difference between the gyrovagues Benedict speaks of and pilgrims or apostles, such as those we celebrate today. While a gyrovague is rootless and therefore cannot grow, the authentic pilgrim is a person with strong roots. Either he has a home from which he departs and to which he will return at the end of his pilgrimage; or, in the case where he has adopted a life of perpetual pilgrimage (which was the first form of Christian monasticism in Syria), he has found sufficient inner roots to dispense with the support of geographical and cultural roots. While ‘stability’ in a place and in a community has become a characteristic dimension of Benedictine monasticism, the dimension of continuous spiritual journey also remains essential.
This message may seem a little austere. But in this commitment to the person of Christ and to the mission received from Him, there is also a deep joy – a joy that is proportional to the radicalism of self-giving.
The harvest is plentiful. As Jesus asked us, let us pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his vineyard. Above all, let us cultivate within ourselves the poverty, detachment and freedom that are necessary for every person who has been called and sent on mission.
Armand VEILLEUX