World Mission Sunday!
World Mission Sunday!
We are celebrating World Mission Sunday. This year, Pope Francis encourages us to consider how the mission's work is, at heart, one of invitation and hospitality. Mission work should be about open hospitality, an invitation to a fuller life now and ultimately to the fullness of life in God’s kingdom.
Mission Sunday is the day to reach out beyond the needs of the local Parish and diocese to assist missionaries as they go and tell in the young churches. Pope Francis in his recent Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium: “Missionary action is the paradigm of every work of the Church” (EG 15).
The church is missionary. Our baptismal call is to be a missionary. St. Therese of Lisieux, also called St. Teresa of the Child Jesus or the Little Flower, is the patron saint of the missionaries. She was a spiritual master of contemplative life. St. Therese didn’t go out on a mission journey, but in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, she reflects on the new freedom of a new joy she will enjoy in heaven. She writes, “There will be no longer any cloister and grilles and my soul will be able to fly with you into distant lands.” While St. Therese was alive, she didn’t go too far but prayed for missionaries. Mission Sunday reminds us we are missionaries and invites us to contribute to the Church's missionary work throughout the world.
Respect Life Month: Every year around the feast of St. Luke, who was a physician, we pray for the sick, healthcare professionals, and caregivers. This weekend, we will pray for these intentions, and after the Mass, there will be an opportunity to receive the Anointing of the Sick for those who are sick.
The twenty-ninth Sunday reading invites us to reflect on servant leadership. There are four servant songs in the Book of Isaiah. During Holy Week, we read all four servant songs. This Sunday, the first reading from the book of Isiah is taken from the Fourth Servant Song. Isaiah speaks of God crushing the suffering servant. The Hebrew term ‘asham' describes a particular type of sacrifice. The meaning of ‘asham’ is “be guilty.” It is a reparation offering. In the book of Leviticus 5:14-26, he talks about offering reparation. The servant bears the iniquity of the people. Isaiah’s servant song foreshadows Jesus's life and mission.
In the Gospel, Christ turned towards Jerusalem, prepared to accept death and resurrection. Right before today’s Gospel passage, Jesus warned his apostles for the third time about his suffering, death, and resurrection, which was soon to take place. Even after the third prediction, the apostles didn’t know what Jesus discussed. The first time Peter told Jesus that what Jesus was talking about – suffering and death – just couldn’t happen. After the second prediction, the disciples argued about the greatest. Now, after the third prediction, James and John, sons of Zebedee, want to know whether they can sit on his right and left in his kingdom.
James and John place a request in front of Jesus, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left." In answer to that, Jesus told them that they would drink the cup Jesus drinks and would be baptized, which was the baptism in which Jesus would be baptized. It reminded the apostles that they were called to follow in his footsteps.
Jesus took this opportunity to teach them about servant leadership – not self-serving, but serving others just as Jesus came to do. Being a servant does not mean allowing people to walk all over us. Jesus came to sacrifice his life as a ransom for many. At the same time he was not afraid to stand up for himself. He proclaimed the kingdom. Christ taught them that the greatness in the Kingdom is based on the spirit of service.
The second reading from the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is like us in all things, but sin. He was a perfect God and an ideal man. Since the Lord identifies with us in every suffering, we can turn to him for help to overcome our weakness due to suffering.
When we come together for Mass, let us bring ourselves to the altar and offer bread and wine, so we may be transformed and become his flesh and blood for others. We will be able to follow his footsteps – be the servant to one another to bring the mission of Christ in our daily life.