Mission! A Christian identity thing

Nothing can come closer to defining the meaning of Christian identity than the charge of Jesus himself, sending his disciples into the world to tell the good news (Mark 16:15). To be a disciple of Christ is to be on mission. It is what is known as “the Great Commission.”

All the Apostles went somewhere. They went because they were sent. Before Pentecost, huddled in the upper room, they were petrified, frightened, imprisoned by the past and fearing the future. Their best days, they thought, were behind them. But God had other plans. With a rush of wind — the fire of the Holy Spirit — each of them was confirmed with the power and zeal to do what Jesus had commanded them before he ascended. And now they would be speaking in tongues not their own!

Missionaries have always inspired us by what seems to have been courage and perseverance to brave and endure what human beings alone could not. That is because they are not alone. They are sent on a mission that God has called them to, and they receive from God the grace to go beyond the bounds of their own talents and strength. 

We often think of the great works of missionaries, going into distant lands, speaking in foreign languages and, typically, adapting to new customs, sometimes experiencing great hardships. The ones we admire do not seek to change or appropriate culture, but to open hearts to the sanctifying love of Jesus Christ, often suffering greatly. Our North American martyrs are excellent witnesses to this. Their prime mission, to announce Jesus as everyone’s savior, is posted on the columns of the Coliseum and on the trees around the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, not far from the city of Amsterdam, New York. Their lives and adventures continue to inspire, like many other heroic narratives of missionaries throughout the world.

Not all missionary work, however, involves long voyages. In many countries, including the United States, bands of missionaries bring the love and care of God’s love to people in the margins who are not far from home, and who often fall between the cracks of even the best organized and developed social networks. The Black and Indian missions and the Glenmary Home Missioners are two fine examples. Not to mention the priests and sisters who have come to our country from lands still considered by some as mission territory, who are now coming to evangelize us and nourish our spiritual hunger for word and sacrament.

If being a missionary is something to which every disciple is called, how do you or I respond if we are not actually going on mission somewhere? It is possible to be a missionary by supporting the work of the missions through prayer and generous offerings. This is something that organizations can do and even individuals. Societies like the Propagation of the Faith, the Knights of Columbus, Aid to the Church in Need, the Order of Malta and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre all support missionary efforts in numerous ways.

We read in the Scriptures how St. Paul and many of the Fathers make frequent appeals to their congregations to assist other church communities that the Apostles and their successors had established. Next Sunday, Oct. 23, is Mission Sunday. Parishes will be taking up collections for the missions to which everyone can contribute personally and, I hope, generously. The economic challenges that we are all experiencing now are universal and no one feels the strain more than our brothers and sisters where food and clean water are scarce. 

I serve on a committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops which attends especially to the needs of African dioceses. In order to preach the Gospel, they need the resources to be able to train catechists, form seminarians and lay leaders, maintain health centers and assist families in raising and educating their children. We welcome priests who visit our parishes to make appeals for the people their dioceses and religious communities serve who are so grateful for our prayer and support. I thank you as well for listening to them and responding so generously.

Not all missionary work, however, is done by those whose lives are dedicated to specific missions here or afar. You may not often think of it, but your life and example to your family and friends, perhaps even to strangers, can be every bit as effective and life-changing to those you are serving. Listening and accompanying someone who is searching, suffering or feeling abandoned is a way of bringing Jesus himself into the world, making his presence felt, which is exactly what the Great Commission is all about. Whether or not you realize it, you may be the only Christ some other person may ever know!

I recall when I was in grammar school, one of the nuns telling us that if all you did in your life was to bring one soul to the love of Jesus, to be the instrument of another’s salvation, your life will have been worth living, no matter what else you did or did not do. Certainly, it is something to contemplate — or better, something to act upon. 

“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” So writes Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Undoubtedly, he is referring to the centrality of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as the prime encounter that changes every life. But Jesus is more than an idea, a philosophy or a set of dos and don’ts. He comes to us in flesh and blood, pouring out his life on the Cross and commissioning us to share his personal gift of self to each of us in the sacramental life of the Church and the generous sacrifice of our own lives in persona Christi.

Never underestimate the powerful witness of shared suffering, of compassion. A Catholic priest awaiting his own execution for standing against the Nazi regime wrote to his sister, “Only in the school of the cross, a schooling gained through personally experienced suffering, and only through the exercise of ardent prayer, can one attain that knowledge of Christ that no study will unlock” (Father Alfons Maria Wachsmann). 

Whatever sacrifice we make, with the help of God’s grace, for others in need is a way of fulfilling our mission as a disciple of Christ. My prayer is that next weekend, you may accept the invitation to give to our brothers and sisters in need longing to see the face of Christ in your generous heart. See it as an identity thing, something that defines who you are.
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