14th Sunday in Ordinary TimeReadings of the day: Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30
This homily was given at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Rochester, NY, for the Basilian Fathers Missions Appeal.
If each of us were to put into words a
personal mission statement, what would that mission statement be? In our
readings today, we hear mission statements of prominent figures in our Scriptures.
The prophet Zechariah, speaking to a nation of Israel that cannot seem to get
out from under foreign rule, curiously crafts his mission statement around the
theme of “dominion”; not of course the dominion of foreign nations over Israel
but the peaceful, humble, and benevolent dominion of God.
Zechariah says that God’s “dominion
shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Zechariah’s mission statement has long been one of my favorite verses in
Scripture. Since I am originally from Canada, I recognize this verse
immediately in Canada’s motto; a kind of mission statement of my native country:
“A mari usque ad mare” in Latin,
meaning “From sea to sea.”
God’s “dominion shall be from sea to
sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” God gives to Zechariah and
to all of us in baptism a mission to extend God’s dominion; to extend God’s
kingdom “to the ends of the earth.” In our own time, our Church more and more
explicitly understands herself as “a pilgrim Church” that “is missionary by its
very nature.”
This mission to cooperate with God to
extend God’s “dominion… to the ends of the earth” is a mission that is outgoing
as it is humble. Zechariah prophesies that God, Israel’s and our savior, will
establish dominion, not with the trappings of the rich and powerful but with
justice and meekness; “riding on an ass on a colt, the foal of an ass.” If we
are to be co-workers with God in the establishment of this universal dominion,
we are called to this same kind of outgoing yet humble mission as that of our
God.
And yet, while mission in the Catholic
sense involves an outgoing yet humble movement, it also includes a
complementary and equally humble movement that draws inward toward its source.
Who is the source of all Christian mission but Jesus Christ? Jesus invites us
in our Gospel reading today, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
meek and humble of heart.”
“Come to” Christ; “learn from” Christ.
Who among us would instinctively see this as a mission statement? I think that
many if not most of us would identify Christian mission with going out to a
community of people, perhaps a distant country and a foreign culture, to bring
our faith to them and maybe to do humanitarian work. This outgoing aspect of
mission is at best only half of what Christian mission is. Outgoing Christian
mission is nothing without also its drawing inward toward its source, Jesus
Christ, who invites us, “Come to me… Learn from me.”
Very early in my time with my religious
community, the Basilian Fathers, I learned that Christian mission consists of
these two movements. Christian mission is both outward and inward. It brings
God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth” but also must draw inward toward the
source of mission; the source of all strength for ministry, Jesus Christ.
My very first assignment as a Basilian
postulant was to Cali, Colombia, to teach French and English in our community’s
high school there while learning Spanish. I naïvely thought then that my
greatest challenges in Colombia would be to learn a new language, Spanish, and
to teach in a classroom for the first time. I had a good sense of the outgoing
movement of mission: Go and teach; be mindful of the poor; perhaps learn some Spanish.
However, I had much to learn about the inward movement of Christian mission
when I first went to Colombia. I would learn quickly that a good teacher is
first a good learner. A good learner is a person who prays; for whom
attentiveness to prayer is essential, otherwise the Christian missionary
becomes tired and frustrated both spiritually and physically. A person who
prays well is a good listener, to the people to whom one ministers; to members
of one’s own religious community; to God. A good listener is a more effective
missionary who responds best to needs of the people in the mission field. The
Christian missionary is sent to bring God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth”
while at the same time being called to turn toward Christ who invites us, “Come
to me… Learn from me.”
After twice serving as a French and
English teacher in Cali, I have been taught far more about ministry; about the
richness our Catholic faith into which I was baptized as an infant; about
ministry; about Christian mission than I ever could teach the people in the
community we Basilians serve in Cali. I have also been privileged to visit our
Basilian communities in Tehuacán, Mexico and Medellín and Bogotá, Colombia.
Each time, when I enter with the spirit of the Christian missionary who will
help to bring God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth,” I am taught more about
the Christ who invites us, “Come to me… learn from me.” Come to and learn from
your Basilian brothers; from the people among whom you have been sent to serve.
But all this speaking on Christian
mission; specifically on Basilian missions abroad, may seem quite distant to us
here and now at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Rochester. How, then, do we
speak of Christian mission in a way that may not seem so distant from us?
I appeal to you today to support the
ministry of the Basilian Missions in Mexico and Colombia. I ask for your
prayers for Christian missionaries more broadly, many of whom risk their lives
by their service. Yes, but I am asking us for more; I am asking and our Church
asks us all to be missionaries wherever we are.
Our Church “is missionary by her very
nature,” and so let us ask: Who are the people who most need our service; who
most need Christ’s presence through our lived example as Christians? Is this
person in need poor; unemployed? Do we know a friend, relative, or other loved
one who struggles with her or his faith; who needs our patience; our
forgiveness; our empathy; our welcome? These are opportunities for us to make
an outward movement of Christian mission. This is the kind of outgoing mission
that works together with God in bringing God’s “dominion”; God’s kingdom “to
the ends of the earth.”
And yet let us remember as we seek out
and serve those to whom we bring God’s presence; God’s kingdom, that Christian
mission is both outward and inward, responding to Christ’s invitation: “Come to
me… learn from me.”
What, then, would our Christian mission
statement be? Perhaps it is that as Christian disciples through our baptism, we
strive both to bring God’s kingdom “to the ends of the earth” and to draw
inward toward the source of all Christian mission and ministry, to “come to”
and to “learn from” Christ even as we bring Christ and the kingdom of God to our
communities; to our parish; “to the ends of the earth.”
