“New Beginnings.” It’s a phrase that brings up any number of memorable scenes.

An everyday one: first thing after waking up, say a prayer of thanks for the new day. Another: when a person comes to the end of some hardship or sickness and senses an influx of fresh energy. Still another: when you’ve completed a regimen of training and are just on the doorstep of a life’s career.

This sense is certainly in the air at the beginning of St. Luke’s ninth chapter. For some time the disciples have been traveling with Jesus and along the way have been taking in his approach, words and moves. But today he’s sending them out, setting them on a  starting line for their brand new mission and also giving advice for their first steps.

Such a beginning time presents a challenge for these individuals to stay the course, to remain locked in on the purposes Jesus has set out. They are not to get distracted by lesser things like walking sticks and extra clothing. At this brand-new juncture they have a sharpened sense of what counts and what will count less on their journey.

There’s a freshness in such beginnings, a new vigor and clarity that sometimes has a way of fading as the days and months stretch out. But the recollection of what it was like at the beginning, the resolve and grasp of the values at that onset, can act as a beacon for what is still ahead.

Might this new beginning for these disciples speak to something of our own “new beginnings?” Can we summon up memories of those stepping-off points when we were just setting out on our own Kingdom journeys? Are there eye-catching flashbacks of what mattered more and what counted less in those early days.

Returning to those beginning times and moods can freshen up our resolve to once again join in Jesus’ mission, not just proclaiming the Reign of God in the here and now but also giving it flesh.

To bolster the spirits of his confreres,  Vincent recalls the early days of his congregation.

“From the beginning, the Company had the desire of being united to Our Lord to do what He did by the practice of his teachings in order to become, like Him, pleasing to His Eternal Father and useful to His Church. It has really tried to make progress in this and grow in holiness, if not to the degree we should have done, at least the best we could.”
(Vol 12, p. 108)