Jesus replies to his disciples when they tell him: "Everyone is searching for you," by saying: "Let us go to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." (Mk 1: 38) Clearly the mission to go further afield to proclaim the Gospel is fundamental to Jesus' understanding of what the Father was asking of him. Not only that, Jesus does not send out the disciples to preach ahead of him at this stage. He needs to proclaim the message in person. St Paul carries the torch on saying: "... for an obligation is placed on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!" (1 Cor 9: 16), and, "But how are they to call on the one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?" (Romans 10: 14-15) The message for us today is that we, as obedient disciples, cannot rely on others to proclaim the Good News for us nor on technology and mass media to perform this function impersonally. Rather, we need to proclaim the Gospel in our own lives and to go out to others in their isolation and suffering. We do this not out of a sense of duty but impelled by the power and beauty of the message we bear: "For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them." (2 Cor. 5: 14-15)
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