ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Today, all over the world, the Church is celebrating World Mission Sunday.

The Church is drawing our attention to the fact that Jesus Christ the Son of God was sent by His Father in heaven on a mission into the world. He came in order to take on our humanity in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He did this in order to reveal God’s love to us, to redeem us, and to teach us how to live and enter into the life of God.

Jesus, who was sent by the Father, in turn sent His Apostles on a mission. It was the extension of His mission. He told them: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). In effect He sent them to reveal God’s love, to uplift humanity and to challenge the world to love and serve others.

Missionary work began at the very beginning of the Church. On Pentecost Sunday, the Apostle Peter proclaimed Jesus Christ to all those who were gathered on that day. Afterwards he left Jerusalem and went eventually all the way to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, to proclaim Jesus Christ. The Apostle Saint Paul preached throughout the known world at that time. He journeyed all throughout Asia Minor and Greece and, finally, he was martyred in Rome. In all the centuries of the Church missionaries have been sent all over the globe to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Second Vatican Council tells us so clearly that the Church is, by her very nature, missionary. In other words, she cannot be understood apart from the fact that she exists in order to share the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. There have always been men and women who leave their homes to share the Gospel with others. In the United States we received the faith through generous missionaries from Europe and many of our own sons and daughters have become missionaries in foreign lands in order to spread the good news of God’s love.

But Vatican II also showed how everyone shares in the mission of the Church. The Church is indeed missionary by nature. All her members are called to share their faith and to be concerned for their brothers and sisters throughout the world.

The model for the Church in all her missionary activity is Jesus. He went about proclaiming the kingdom of God, but also healing those who were sick and freeing others from the power of the devil.

That activity is what our missionaries have promoted over the years. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is sanctfying, but also uplifting. We are all called to share our faith and to help those in spiritual need and in material need in our homeland and throughout the world.

This morning, we have a reading from the Book of Sirach. It tells us that God hears the cry of the oppressed. We also have a very beautiful psalm that elaborates on this idea. The psalm tells us that “the Lord hears the cry of the poor.... The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit.”

All throughout the centuries God has heard and responded to those in need. In doing so He uses the missionaries of the Church and all those who share their faith with their neighbor. Saint Paul tells us this morning that in his efforts the Lord stood by him. It took a great deal of courage, a great deal of generosity, a great deal of sacrifice for him to fulfill his mission, which was to collaborate in the mission of Jesus Christ. The great missionaries of the Church over the centuries have influenced millions of people. Think of a man like Saint Patrick who converted Ireland by his preaching. And think of a missionary like Saint Boniface who brought the faith to Germany. And think of a woman like Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, whose love and witness have influenced countless people throughout the world in recent years.

Today, dear friends, the Church again recalls that she is by her nature missionary, because that is the way Jesus established her. And Jesus has transmitted to all the members of His Church a share in His mission of revealing the love of the eternal Father. Jesus brought the Father’s love into the world and He shared it with us, but He wants us to share it with others.

In receiving the Father’s love we are called to continue Jesus’ mission. In the Church, God’s love for us becomes a challenge of service and generosity: to help God hear the cry of the poor and oppressed, and to spread our holy Catholic faith to all those who willingly choose to listen to us. A great part of our Christian lives is the witness that we are called to bear to everyone by the upright witness of our everyday lives. The great Indian peace-maker Mahatma Gandhi once scolded Christians by saying: “The whole world would be Christian, but you Christians are so little like your Christ.” And so we realize the great challenge to our personal lives. Even as we bear witness to our faith, we realize that we have much to do to live up fully to what God asks of us.

In the Gospel this morning, we have the example of two men: one is a Pharisee and the other is a tax collector. The Pharisee pretends to be perfect. The other man admits his limitations and his sins, saying: “Have mercy on me a sinner.” Despite our limitations and our sins, we have a great mission, dear friends, because we belong to a missionary Church. We have received the treasure of God’s love and mercy which we must share with others in humble service. We have been introduced to the teachings of Christ, which are able to uplift the world. We must pass them on to each new generation.

And so we give thanks for the missionaries that brought us our holy Catholic faith and introduced us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But this Gospel of love and life of justice, peace and service is meant to be shared with the whole world.

If you ever wondered, dear friends, just how important you are, and just how much you can contribute to the world, remember that you have received the gift of the love of Jesus Christ at your Baptism and you belong to a Church that believes in sharing this love with the world. You are a member of Christ’s Church, which is and always will be missionary by her very nature. You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation to strengthen you so that you may worthily fulfill your mission, together with Jesus, as He continues, working through you to manifest His love and mercy to the world. Amen.