Today, the universal Church
celebrates World Mission Sunday. Mission has special meaning at this time since
we have begun the Year of Faith that will last until November of next year. One major theme of the year of faith is the
New Evangelization. If we are baptized,
we are missionaries. If we are baptized,
we are called to evangelize. It is not
optional as a Christian. It’s what we
do.
Pope Benedict tells us several
things about the virtue of faith. By
nature, faith wants to make itself understandable to others. Faith appeals to reason and is always
oriented toward truth. In that truth,
faith has the duty to be missionary in nature.
And because of love, we Christians share that truth with the world.
The signs of the times show us our
mission is not getting easier. There are
more distractions than ever, and this leads to a lack of reflection and wisdom. We also notice the growth of humanism that
excludes God. There is an urgent call
for all of us to illuminate every aspect of life with the Gospel. The world needs to know Christ more than
ever. Jesus Christ is the principal
driving force behind the authentic development of every person and all of
humanity. When we are pressured to be
like everybody else, we are to direct our whole heart toward God. When we feel the lure of possessions, we
embrace the cross. When we are tempted
to hoard God’s gifts, we give to the poor.
When we are tempted to hide our Christianity, we bring the good news to
all we meet.
The purpose of our lives as
Christians is to reveal God to everyone.
In revealing God to everyone, we are doing our part to save souls and in
it we are glorifying God. This sets us
on course for eternal life in Heaven. Every
other good thing we do in the Christian life is related to sharing the Gospel
in word and example. The world must
encounter the living God in Christ in order to know what life is. And if it is our job to show him to the
world, we must first know him if we are going to share him with others. We can’t give what we don’t have. Preaching the Gospel is the call of God’s
children to freedom, to the construction of an ever more just and united
society, and to our preparation for eternal life.
As we join Christ in his mission,
we will encounter tribulation, conflict and suffering. As Christians, we will come up against the
powers and resistance of this world. The
one guarantee we have as Christians is the Cross. But as we come up against all the negativity
the world has to offer, we are in good company.
Our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus
has similarly been tested in every way. Whatever
suffering we endure, Jesus has been there first. And there’s more good news for us. Look at the beauty of the Resurrection that
is promised us on the other side of the Cross.
By virtue of our baptism, we live in hope of the resurrection just as
Jesus has risen. With God’s grace,
perhaps we can even be eager to drink the cup of suffering he drank, just like
James and John were as we heard in today’s Gospel. Perhaps we will be eager to be baptized with
the baptism with which he is baptized knowing that the plunge into death only
leads to the glory of the resurrection.
So how do we begin? The first step in evangelization is prayer. It is in prayer that we nurture our
relationship with Jesus Christ. It is in
prayer united to the Church that we discern God’s will. The conversion of the world is a supernatural
thing. It is God’s work. We don’t bring it about by our own power. It is God’s gift to us. And like every good
gift God gives, it requires a response from us.
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