Reflection/Homily: Twenty-Ninth (29th) Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C (Mission Sunday, October 20 2013)

Reflection/Homily: Twenty-Ninth (29^th) Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C (Mission Sunday, October 20 2013)

Theme: Prayer and Authentic Missionary Activity

On this 29^th Sunday in the Ordinary Time of the Year C which is also the World Mission Sunday, we are reminded of our missionary roles in the world. A missionary is one chosen and sent by God to a people and a land to do His will. As Christians we are all missionaries of God in the world trying to do the will of God. In the first reading (Exodus 17:8-13), we encounter Moses as a missionary leading the people of Israel to the Promised Land. When they were attacked by the Amalekites at Rephidim, Moses instructed Joshua on what to do while he went up to pray. He augmented the physical efforts of the Israelites with the power of prayer. As long as his hands remained lifted up, the Israelites took advantage over their opponents until they defeated them.

It is not uncommon as missionaries in our own way that we live in an environment where several challenges confront us in the course of doing the will of God. The action of Moses is for us an example to follow. When we encounter difficulties in our missionary activities, whether religious or secular, we have to resort to prayer despite the human strategies we might put in place. Only God can guarantee us victory though sometimes, through the strategies we put in place. Prayer augments our human efforts in the quest for victory. It is not a mere communication with God, it is a relationship with God. Though God is not bound to obey our voices in prayer, He has bound Himself to listen to our voices in prayer by commanding that we pray in and out of season.

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2013

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

 This year, as we celebrate World Mission Day, the Year of Faith, which is an important opportunity to strengthen our friendship with the Lord and our journey as a Church that preaches the Gospel with courage, comes to an end. From this perspective, I would like to propose some reflections. 

 1. Faith is God’s precious gift, which opens our mind to know and love him. He wants to enter into relationship with us and allow us to participate in his own life in order to make our life more meaningful, better and more beautiful. God loves us! Faith, however, needs to be accepted, it needs our personal response, the courage to entrust ourselves to God, to live his love and be grateful for his infinite mercy. It is a gift, not reserved for a few but offered with generosity. Everyone should be able to experience the joy of being loved by God, the joy of salvation! It is a gift that one cannot keep to oneself, but it is to be shared. If we want to keep it only to ourselves, we will become isolated, sterile and sick Christians. The proclamation of the Gospel is part of being disciples of Christ and it is a constant commitment that animates the whole life of the Church. Missionary outreach is a clear sign of the maturity of an ecclesial community" (BENEDICT XVI, Verbum Domini, 95). Each community is "mature" when it professes faith, celebrates it with joy during the liturgy, lives charity, proclaims the Word of God endlessly, leaves one’s own to take it to the “peripheries”, especially to those who have not yet had the opportunity to know Christ. The strength of our faith, at a personal and community level, can be measured by the ability to communicate it to others, to spread and live it in charity, to witness to it before those we meet and those who share the path of life with us.