Mission Sunday
29th Sunday Ordinary Time
October 22, 2006
During my Jesuit days, each novice scholastic --Jesuit lingo for seminarian-- was quickly made aware of great Jesuit ancestors, usually bright men who served the Church well. However, the greatest admiration and reverence were afforded to those "great me" who departed their homelands--wherever that might have been--to work in the "foreign missions." St. Francis Xavier was presented as the model Jesuit, next, of course, to Ignatius Loyola. Today we don't speak of missionaries with the same frequency nor with the same awe. Anyone can travel round the world today. What were mysterious and described as frightful treks in strange territories are now exotic ventures. So, one could easily deduce that the work of the true missionary --generous priests, religious or lay persons--is not as exciting nor as needed as just a few years ago. In the new United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, there are many times that we read about missionaries in light of the missionary nature of the Church. By our Baptism and Confirmation we are anointed as a prophetic people. You might be surprised that the Church considers you a prophet, a person called to speak out, to be a voice not crying out in the desert like John the Baptist but rather as a Mother Teresa or a John Paul II in our contemporary society. A missionary and a prophet are so much akin to each other. We, the baptized, are called to be missionaries, even today: to teach, to preach, to be witnesses of God's Word revealed in his Word, Jesus Christ. Even great Francis of Assisi was a missionary who taught his cohorts the essence of missionary life: "Preach SometimesSomtimes use words." Today throughout our Church we are all of us in every Church throughout the worlds united by the celebration of Mission Sunday ... recalling the noble past in our tradition and the present challenge to all of us. Through our personal lives in teaching and preaching, by helping and healing we are called to give witness to the presence of God in our lives today. I do believe if we call back into the forefront of our experience of the faith, the lives of the great men and women who "heard th call," "who sacrificed much" to bring what was most meaningful in their lives, the gospel of Jesus Christ would have another opportunity to come alive, especially for our young, idealistic people who love challenges.
29th Sunday Ordinary Time
October 22, 2006
During my Jesuit days, each novice scholastic --Jesuit lingo for seminarian-- was quickly made aware of great Jesuit ancestors, usually bright men who served the Church well. However, the greatest admiration and reverence were afforded to those "great me" who departed their homelands--wherever that might have been--to work in the "foreign missions." St. Francis Xavier was presented as the model Jesuit, next, of course, to Ignatius Loyola. Today we don't speak of missionaries with the same frequency nor with the same awe. Anyone can travel round the world today. What were mysterious and described as frightful treks in strange territories are now exotic ventures. So, one could easily deduce that the work of the true missionary --generous priests, religious or lay persons--is not as exciting nor as needed as just a few years ago. In the new United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, there are many times that we read about missionaries in light of the missionary nature of the Church. By our Baptism and Confirmation we are anointed as a prophetic people. You might be surprised that the Church considers you a prophet, a person called to speak out, to be a voice not crying out in the desert like John the Baptist but rather as a Mother Teresa or a John Paul II in our contemporary society. A missionary and a prophet are so much akin to each other. We, the baptized, are called to be missionaries, even today: to teach, to preach, to be witnesses of God's Word revealed in his Word, Jesus Christ. Even great Francis of Assisi was a missionary who taught his cohorts the essence of missionary life: "Preach SometimesSomtimes use words." Today throughout our Church we are all of us in every Church throughout the worlds united by the celebration of Mission Sunday ... recalling the noble past in our tradition and the present challenge to all of us. Through our personal lives in teaching and preaching, by helping and healing we are called to give witness to the presence of God in our lives today. I do believe if we call back into the forefront of our experience of the faith, the lives of the great men and women who "heard th call," "who sacrificed much" to bring what was most meaningful in their lives, the gospel of Jesus Christ would have another opportunity to come alive, especially for our young, idealistic people who love challenges.
