IT happened in China a few years before the Communists expelled the missionaries. A foreign missionary came upon an old woman by the wayside, deserted, cold and hungry.
“Why do you bother about me?” the old lady whispered feebly when the priest tried to help her as best as he could. “Nobody else cares. Why should you?”
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“God said to go out over the world and help everyone who is in need,” the priest went on. Pondering over the words of the priest, she said, “What a beautiful religion. Where did it come from? “
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Whereupon the priest started to teach her about God who loves us and sent his own Son Jesus Christ to save us.
“Your Christ,” the old woman went on, “Where is He?” When the priest said He died two thousand years ago, she was amazed. “Do you mean to say that it has been two thousand years since Christ commanded his followers to spread his teachings? Why, where have you Christians been all this time?”
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This might well be the pointed question addressed to us as we celebrate World Mission Sunday today. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus commanded his apostles: “Go out into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to every nation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mk 16,15).
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How can we be missionaries? Obviously, not all can go out of their country to reach out to peoples who have not known Christ. If some heroic people can do it as missionaries, fine. But for most of us, all that we can do is be missionaries at home.
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Remember St. Therese of the Child Jesus? She is the universal patroness of Catholic missions yet, ironically, she never stepped out of the four walls of her Carmelite cloister!
She merited the title because of her burning obsession to save souls by offering every little act, every bodily pain for the conversion of immortal souls.
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When I was ordained priest in our missionary congregation, Society of the Divine Word (SVD), I applied to work in Mexico, Central America. Unfortunately I never got my wish. The farthest I’ve gone to is Mexico…Pampanga!
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That doesn’t mean, however, that I am not a genuine missionary. By my work in the media or supporting seminarians under the “Adopt A Seminarian” scholarship program, I am a missionary. What counts is not geography, but the spirit or attitude.
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Further, we can be missionaries by means of financial assistance. Be generous and share your resources for the support of missionaries.
Money is a necessity in the work of evangelization. Churches, schools, convents, clinics, social centers are needed in the “bush” mission.
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ASK YOURSELF: Am I doing something for the missions as Christ commanded us to do? Am I aware of the numerous priests, nuns, lay brothers laboring worldwide in far-flung villages and helping them?
You are Christ’s missionary. Do your share.
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SUPPORT SEMINARIANS. Chip in or sponsor a year’s scholarship of a seminarian. REMEMBER: Without seminarians, we cannot have priests and missionaries.
For inquiries, e-mail me at bels[email protected].
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FAMILY TV MASS – aired on IBC 13 (channel 15 cable) at 7-8 a.m. every Sunday and on international GMA Pinoy TV. SPONSOR: ARELLANO UNIVERSITY, School of Law, Pasay City. Priest presider: FR. EGAI DE JESUS.
The FAMILY that prays together stays together.
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