29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B - World Mission Sunday

Be great in God's sight

(Fr. James McTavish)

Isa 53:10-11 Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20+22 Heb 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45

Today in the gospel we find James and John aspiring to greatness. They approach Jesus and tell him to do whatever they ask of him. The brothers are not shy! Jesus is so very open and accommodating and asks them what they want. Well they want to sit at his right and his left in the Kingdom. Jesus lets them know that they do not know what they are asking! Jesus really desires that we be great in LOVE not in worldly honours or achievements. He tells his disciples that he has a baptism of fire to undergo and that “whoever wishes to be great must be the servant...for the Son of man did not come to be served but to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I remember meeting a Christian willing to give their life for others when in Sydney in 1998. It made a profound impression on me and started me on my quest for my vocation. I went to my local parish and had been out running in a 10 kilometre run in the morning. I was feeling so healthy and strong. When I sat down in the mass, a little old lady came and sat beside me. “Poor old dear,” I thought, “I am glad I am still young and strong.”  The priest began the mass and told us that this day was Mission Sunday. I did not know what it was. He said “Today we will listen to a missionary from Africa, who has been through a war, then put in prison.” “Wow awesome!“ I thought and imagined the Arnold Schwarzenegger type of missionary who would be going to speak in the homily.

When the homily arrived the little old lady tapped me on the shoulder. I assumed she wanted to go to the bathroom. What a surprise I got when instead of heading towards the bathroom she started walking towards the altar. So this was the missionary who had been in Africa. She started to speak and her face was lit up by the love of Christ. She was sharing about the children in Africa and I must say I never saw a human being so in love with humanity.  Her whole face shone and lit up the darkness of my heart - “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out” (John 1:5). She then told us how she was put in prison and given death threats. She had so much power. My muscles meant nothing compared to the power of love! She was so courageous. She said that she had a rifle placed at her head and was threatened with death. She replied, “The only way you will get me to leave this country is in a body bag”

I wanted to love like that. I wanted to know the Christ she knew. The Christ I knew was not the same one. I came to church I would sit at the back and would leave as soon as the mass finished. She was in a different league…I was playing football in the back garden and she was in the Premier League! Who is this Christ that drives her in the mission? It is the Christian one, the one we receive in every Eucharist! How come I am not so fired up as her, how come I often feel lethargic and lacking in love when there is a whole world to love! I WANT TO KNOW YOU JESUS AND YOUR LOVE!  What is the secret of mission? What drives one in the mission? LOVE! “Do you love me?” asked Jesus, “then feed my sheep.”

The theme that Pope Benedict chose for the world Mission Sunday is: “The Nations will come to its light” (Revelations 21:24). When we look at the Mass, so many are drawn to the light of Christ.  So many faces, so many colours, not the United Colours of Benetton, but the united colours of Benedict! All drawn by the light of Christ.

This light needs to shine in the heart of each Christian, in each one of our lives. People will be drawn to Christ by the fire in us for him. If you are in love with him you will draw others. It is not simply doing many things, it is to be in love with Jesus. Look at the patrons of the mission. Who are they? St Thérèse of Lisieux. She did not go to all nations, like the other patron St Francis Xavier. He went to so many lands, but St Thérèse never left her convent! How come she is patron of mission? What did she do? She had a great love for Christ. One day she was praying with Songs 1:4 - “Draw me and we will run.” How come? Draw me. Who is the we? All the other souls… - in Taiwan our Verbum Dei sisters told us about the faith there. It is a country with very few Christians.  But who do many of them love? St Thérèse of Lisieux! She never went there but the love she has is global and universal!

Of course it does not remain that we all stay at home. She was faithful to her call and so must we be. To bring the light of Christ as a community to the world: “You are the light of the world!” What sometimes lacks in our Christian following? Why is it not exciting? Mission! We are all missionaries! The whole Church is missionary, by her very nature! We are all missionaries and we share in the mission of Christ. The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning! What makes fire, fire, is in the burning. What makes Church the Church is mission.

Jesus said, “I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it was already blazing!” (Luke 12:49). How important that we attract the people to the light of Christ otherwise they will be attracted to many other lights.

We need the light of Christ to open our eyes. When I started to pray with the Word of God I started to become enlightened. I was opening my eyes gradually to the needs of others. I was working in Sydney then, I came for an 18 months job in Plastics and reconstructive surgery and then planned to go back home to England. One day in the hospital I was asked to see a young man of 26, who had cut his wrists and wanted to end his life. I was wondering how come, with everything life has to offer, a young person did not want to live? After his operation I told him that the reconstruction went well and that we had fixed his hand. He started to cry and said, “You fixed my hand but who will fix my life?”  From then on I desired to dedicate my life in the mission to announcing the Gospel, to announcing to many sad lives and shouting out, “Young man, I tell you, get up!” Get up and live.

This is the mission of the Church: to shout out to the world the life and love of Christ. What a wonderful mission! Let us give thanks for the gift and task of mission. Each of us as Christians share in this mission of the Church. Let us be faithful to what God asks us… Amen.

REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

Homily 29th Sunday C
(Oct 17, 2010)
Fr James McTavish, FMVD

Mission Possible!

One day I went to the mass in Sydney, Australia. I was working there as a surgeon and felt that I was doing my part to make this world a slightly better place. Sitting down in the mass an old lady came and sat next to me. Sounded like it would be a slightly less boring mass than normal as the priest said that a missionary from Africa would speak to us as it was “World Mission Sunday” whatever that was. In the homily I was waiting for a superman type figure to share to us about the mission in Africa. Imagine my surprise when the ‘little old lady’ got up to share – she had just come back from a war zone. When she spoke, such words of love flowed from her mouth that I was captivated. She was not intimidated even with the death threats and would not abandon the orphans she was looking after there in Rwanda. When the soldier in the prison ordered to leave the country she told him “The only way you will get me to leave Africa is in a coffin”. Who was this Jesus she knew? Who was the God that was animating her, moving her in the mission. What was the difference between that little old nun and me? She was in love and I was not. The heart of mission is the love of Christ. I didn’t have that love but I wanted it!

I realized that there was more to being a Christian than reciting a few prayers and half heartedly attending mass. I likened myself at that time to the cat I saw once in the local parish. It arrived a bit late for the mass one day, a bit like me and some of the other parishioners. The cat clasped his paws together in the right moment such that is seemed like he was praying and even in some moments in the homily he seemed to be following as he was nodding his head. We have to ask what does it mean to attend mass? What is the sign of authentic worship? In his message for World Mission Sunday, Pope Benedict said “an authentically Eucharistic Church is a missionary church” and that is why at the end of every mass there is the ‘final sending’ where every one of us is sent such that “the love that we celebrate in the sacraments is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature it demands to be shared with everyone.” I realized that what was lacking in my life was a mission!

Today is World Mission Sunday which reminds us of the mission entrusted to the Church. As the Second Vatican Council told us “the Church is missionary by its very nature”. Mission is what keeps the Church alive and kicking and ever youthful. The great O-mission is when there is zero mission. What is mission if it is not about sharing. When you have something good often there will be a natural desire to share. Once in mission activity we were giving out some candies to the children. Some of the children devoured the candy immediately but one young boy took the candies and put some in his pocket. I watched him and he went and found his younger siblings to share the candies with them. Where there is love there is sharing. What is at the heart of the mission? Sharing God’s love. Why sometimes no interest in mission? ‘Cos there is no love! You cannot share what you do not have.

That is why the readings today give such an emphasis to prayer. In the second reading St Paul reminds Timothy that all Scripture is inspired by God and to preach the Word in season and out of season (see 2 Tim 3, 14-4,2). The Gospel today speaks about the need or should we say necessity of prayer. Jesus told the disciples about the necessity to pray and never to get weary in our prayer life. (See Luke 18,1-8). Jesus recounts a story of an old widow who tried to get justice from a crooked judge. The judge was resistant but because of the persistence of the widow he relents saying that if he didn’t she might strike him. The Greek verb translated “strike” is actually to hit under the eye, so one version could be that the judge feared he might receive a black eye from the old lady! Jesus invites the listeners to pay attention to this story and concludes saying “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

This parable to explain the need to pray constantly and persistently. Prayer is the source of mission as here we receive the love that has to be shared. How can you share Good news if you don’t first listen to it? But the problem in our world of today is that we are very busy with no time to pray. What are the consequences? Once Mother Theresa was setting up a community in a very poor area. There were so many people to attend to, so many poor with so much work to do and other religious communities were helping. Mother Theresa insisted that her Sisters of Charity find time each day to pray and spend time in front of Jesus. Some people, including other religious, complained to the Bishop that with so much work to do, with some much suffering around, that there was no time to ‘waste’ in prayer.

This is a very common reaction of many Christians today – ‘better action than prayer’. But what kind of action? Is it the will of God? Jesus told us to remain united to him in order to bear much fruit but cut off from him we can do nothing. Mother Theresa insisted that her nuns take time each day to pray to draw strength for the difficult work. What was the result? Three months later all the other religious left because the work was too hard. Who are the only ones who remained? The Sisters of Charity! Only prayer can give this perseverance because we cannot do God’s work without him.

The first reading gives us a beautiful image of the importance of this prayer in the middle of the battle (see Exodus 17, 8-13). As long he would keep his arms raised in prayer, the army would win but when he lowered them the army would lose. As his arms got tired, he sat on a rock and two companions, Aaron and Hur, supported his arms. We need a community to persevere! We need to help each other in the mission! Mission is not for lone rangers. And I must say this week I have enjoyed so much the mission activities with my community - this weekend we just finished a 3 day retreat with teachers from a deaf school, 5 of whom were actually deaf themselves. It is interesting preaching the Word of God and seeing it being signed so that the deaf can hear the Word of God. As the Word of God announces – “the deaf will hear” (Matthew 11,5). Not only the physically deaf but also each one of us can begin to hear and sometimes I am deaf to the situation of others.

Let us ask for the grace to persevere in the mission entrusted to each one of us. May we persevere in prayer as it is where we draw the love and strength needed to love and serve others. With love mission become possible. Amen.