Homily for Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exod 17:8-13 • 2 Tim 3:14-4:2 • Luke 18:1-8
Introduction
In your packet of collection envelopes this
month, there is a special envelope for today’s second collection, and it has
the words: “World Mission Sunday.” And
so: What is World Mission Sunday? And
why is World Mission Sunday asking for your hard-earned money? What will that money do?
Every year on the next-to-last Sunday in
October, the Catholic Church celebrates World Mission Sunday, aiming to do
three main things:
1.
Collecting donations for the missions
– like that envelope in your packet this month,
2.
Raising awareness about the
mission of the Church – like I am trying to do in my homily,
3.
Praying for the work of missionaries
– like we are doing at Mass now
For my reflection, I am going to speak
about these three things: the collection, the awareness and prayer for
missions. Some people say that my
homilies are long. If talk too much today,
just throw the money at me and I will stop talking.
Scripture and Theology and Christian Life
Let us
start with the collection. Your donation
in that World Mission Sunday envelope will be put together with that of other
parishes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and sent to the Vatican. Putting together the collections from other
countries, even the poorest countries, the department of the missions at the
Vatican will then divide that pot among the many needs of those dioceses in
Asia, Latin America and Africa, which they have only recently received the
faith.
But
when that money gets there, what does it actually do? Well, just look at me, as I am the product of
your kind missionary donations.
·
Forty years ago I was blessed to be born to parents, who themselves had
been born Christians, thanks to the work of the first missionaries who came to
Uganda. The work of those early
missionaries to Uganda was definitely supported by a collection such as that of
World Mission Sunday.
·
The parish church where I was baptised and the village church where I
attended Sunday services growing up were built with the help of the World
Mission Sunday collection.
·
The priests, catechists, sisters, brothers who taught me the faith at
Church and in school from an early age were probably trained with money
received from this same collection.
·
I was quite a sickly child and was a frequent visitor at the parish
medical clinic, built and maintained by the generous donations of such
collections.
·
Then when I joined the seminary in Uganda, both high school and college
seminary, I am sure that my training would not have been possible without the
generous mission collections.
·
After I was ordained, I was sent to study for graduate studies in Rome,
and I lived in a college maintained by the Vatican Department of the Missions,
the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
And so,
please know that there are many priests, sisters, brothers and catechists like
myself, who serve the Church only because of the donations you make in mission
collections like today’s. Even more
important are the millions of Catholics throughout the world who have the faith
in Jesus Christ, because of that $10, $20, $50, $100 you put in that
collection. And on their behalf and on
my behalf, let me say how grateful we all are for enabling us receive the Good
News of Jesus Christ.
And
that brings me to the second aspect of World Mission Sunday, which is the
reminder that mission work is at the centre of Catholic life. Jesus gave a great commission to the Church
in Mk. 16:15, saying, “Go into the whole
world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” That great commission of preaching the gospel
is just as valid today, as it was 2000 years ago, because the consequences are
serious. For Jesus goes on to say: “Whoever
believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be
condemned” (Mk. 16:16). The work of
mission is not simply about making people’s lives better here on earth; it is
really about bringing them to knowledge of God in Jesus Christ and giving them
the opportunity to experience God’s salvation that begins here on earth, but
will reach its climax in heaven.
For the
Bible tells us that true fulfilment here on earth and in heaven, which is
another way of describing salvation, comes only from knowing and loving Jesus. John tells us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.
3:16). And he goes on to say: “For God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn.
3:17).
That is
why Archbishop Gregory Aymond has reminded us of the Pope’s words in his
Message for World Mission Sunday 2013, where he says: “The Church – I repeat
once again – is not a relief organization, an enterprise or an NGO, but a
community of people, animated by the Holy Spirit, who have lived and are living
the wonder of the encounter with Jesus Christ and want to share this experience
of deep joy, the message of salvation that the Lord gave us.” And so, we are all responsible for sharing
this message of salvation with others.
Before
he ascends to the Father, Jesus tells his followers that after receiving the
Spirit “. . . you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”
(Acts 1:18). They are to begin at home
in Jerusalem, throughout their nation of Judea and neighbouring Samaria, and
then to the ends of the earth. That
command from the Lord is given to us too, to be missionaries here at home, in
our parish, in our nation and to all other nations. In today’s reading to Timothy, St. Paul makes
this mission even more pressing saying:
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus . . . proclaim
the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince,
reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.”
Conclusion
My
friends let me suggest three ways in which we can be missionaries of the Good
News, both here at home and beyond; by Word, Example and Support.
1. Let us not be afraid to teach
the Good News to others, especially to our children, to our family members and
even co-workers. Let us share with them
what we know about God and how God has changed our lives. Yesterday I was having a conversation with a
homeless man and he asked me: “why are you a priest?” And I told him, “because
I love God.” And he remarked at the
simplicity of my answer, but also its clarity.
Our words do not have to be complicated; let us share what the Lord has
done for us.
2. But secondly, we are even better
missionaries if we actually live out the Good News in our lives. Pope Paul VI
once said that modern man listens to witnesses more than to teachers; if he
listens to teachers, it is because they are also witnesses. Since action speak louder than words, perhaps
our preaching the Goods News will be most effective if we also live it.
3.
And thirdly, let us support the work of missionaries, both here at home
and abroad, with our money and our prayers.
The same Pope Paul VI said that there are two kinds of missionaries:
there are those who go the missions, something I hope you can one day do, by
coming back with me to Uganda, even if only for a week or so; then there are
those missionaries who go by giving of their prayerful and their financial
support.
Thank you for being a missionary, even if only the second kind of
missionary!
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