Shake that dust

Not everything we do always goes well.

Sometimes (if not many times) we fail.

Afterwards, we often may think about those failures again and again, going over then in our minds and trying to think: if only…

In today’s first reading (Acts 13:14, 43-52), the preaching of Paul and Barnabas fails with their target audience. Not only does the target audience reject their preaching, they respond with verbal abuse and violence.

Paul and Barnabas respond clearly and briefly, and then they move on, shaking the dust from their feet as Christ commanded his disciples to do (Luke 9:5).

The shaking of the dust from their feet signifies, among other things, that they will go forth focusing on the tasks ahead, for that is what God has called them to do.

They truly can do no more for the ones who have rejected them and so they must leave them in the hands of God.

This reading reminds us that we must not let the past keep us from focusing on what we must do in the present and in the future.

If we sin, we must repent and seek forgiveness.

And we must remain faithful to our journey, serving God and his people as best we can, now and in the time ahead.