Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Emil Pati SVD – Claveria, Cagayan
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B
When my cell phone beeps and the notification “message received” pops up, I am alerted that a message has arrived. When I reply and the “message sent” notification is displayed on the screen it means the message went through. Our days are filled with outgoing and incoming messages. We call this communication, whether by telephone, text, e-mails or even routine conversations.
Awesomely, this sending and receiving is a beautiful description of our celebration today – Mission Sunday. The evangelist John puts it in a profound but different way when he wrote: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that all who will receive and believe in him will have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
Isaiah in the first reading calls this “the Lord’s will.” It is God’s will too that all who experience love should not keep it to themselves but share it with others. A line of a song aptly echoes this, “Love is not love until it is shared and given.”
St. Mark in today’s Gospel makes it even demonstrative when Jesus gives preference to the Father’s will as regards to whom the privilege of sitting beside his son-God is allotted. Jesus went on further by making his disciples aware of the essence of following him and the demands attached to it. “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45)
We are reminded of a Filipino Jesuit seminarian who was sent as a missionary to Cambodia. One day, a grenade was thrown inside the classroom full of children he was teaching. Before the grenade could explode, the seminarian used his body as a shield leaving every school child unharmed and his body completely blown up to pieces. What a share of baptism he had with Christ!
In our Eucharistic celebration today we honor and recognize men and women of every walk of life who left the comfort of their homes, communities and countries and are serving as missionaries and lay mission collaborators here and abroad. We pray for their safety and for success in their missionary endeavors especially those in difficult situations.
As for all of us here, we are missionaries too by virtue of our baptism. Everyone of us has a responsibility to carry to the end Jesus’ mission here on earth. We do that with 3 Ps. First P, Pray for the mission. Second P, Promote missionary vocation. And third P, support the mission with our Purses.
When along the way or reaching home and your cell phone beeps and the phrase “message received” or an icon notification pops up, be reminded that receiving Jesus in the Holy Communion you also received anew his missionary mandate. And when your reply and “message sent” notification is displayed, be reminded that Jesus is sending you as a missionary inside and outside your home. Beep! Beep!
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