“Go and make disciples of all the.nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!”
Such is our baptismal calling, to spread the Good News. Today is World Mission Sunday, a day to pray for and support those in the mission field. The collection for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith ensures the work and service of the Mission Church, as it supports priests, religious and lay leaders who offer the Lord’s mercy and concrete help to the most vulnerable communities in the Pope’s missions.
In his 2024 World Mission Sunday message, Pope Francis reflects on the Gospel parable of the Wedding Banquet, where the king tells his servants “Go therefore to the thoroughfares and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find”. The invitation to the banquet is linked to the Eucharistic table, where believers share the Body and Blood of Christ, anticipating the final banquet.
As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out: “We cannot keep to ourselves the love we celebrate in the Sacrament [of the Eucharist]. By its very nature, it asks to be communicated to everyone. What the world needs is the love of God, to encounter Christ and believe in him. For this reason the Eucharist is not only the source and summit of the life of the Church; it is also the source and summit of her mission: ‘An authentically Eucharistic Church is a missionary Church’” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 84).
At the end of mass we are sent out in peace to announce the Gospel of the Lord. We are sent out into the mission field of our family, workplace, and community to spread the message of living in God’s love.
That sounds like it should be an easy task, for who would really reject the idea of living in God’s love? Yet, we know that many people do reject it, not only in foreign lands but in our own communities and often in our own families.
There are various reasons for this, of course. Living in God’s love means rejecting the goals and standards of our society to a great extent. Our culture is often based largely on selfishness, getting as much of the world’s goods for ourselves as possible, regardless of the effect on others. That is the ultimate reason for all the wars and conflicts that fill the news every day and impact our own lives, along with all peoples worldwide in multiple ways.
Today’s readings remind us of the difficulty of living in love. The first reading speaks of the difficulty of living according to God’s will in a world that rejects God’s ways. The second reading reminds us that even our high priest had to suffer at the hands of God’s enemies. The Gospel speaks of the necessity of drinking the cup of suffering if we are to follow Christ, imitating him by serving and giving our lives for others.
Let us resolve to live our lives in the way of God’s love. Ultimately what we are living for is not personal success, wealth, or notoriety but rather to give glory to God each and every day through our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Fr. Ron
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