12th Sunday and Mission Appeal
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I am Fr Sunny John, a Carmelite priest from India. I am coming from a country where there are more than 1.1billion people and there are 23 official languages. (India is a federal republic of twenty-eight states and seven Union Territories.) You May not fully understand me, you know why, because English is not my language.
Someone once said that every Christian occupies some kind of pulpit and preaches some kind of sermon every day. St. Francis of Assisi used to instruct his newly ordained friars: “Go out and preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.”
Today’s gospel is a continuation of the instructions that Jesus gave to the twelve apostles as he sent them out to go and proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The values of the Kingdom are different from the values of the world, so much so that people tend to reject the message and turn against the messengers. Tradition has it that almost all the apostles died the violent death of martyrdom. A martyr is one who gives his life for Christ and his Church. Some of them ended up being crucified on the cross, like Peter and Andrew; beheaded, like James and Paul; flayed alive, like Bartholomew; or thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, like John. It was natural, therefore, for the apostles to fear as Jesus sends them out to evangelize a hostile world. Yielding to this fear would make them abandon the dangerous mission in order to save their skin. So Jesus instructs them in today’s gospel on how to overcome this crippling fear. The key is to look unto Jesus as their hero and model.
The word martyr means witness - one who testifies by his death to a value or a truth which is greater than his life. We need to remember that the driving force for martyrdom is always love - red-hot love! A martyr is one who can be said to be burning with love for Jesus Christ and his Church.
Some years ago, a Christian minister and a group of students from Canada went to Kenya for a summer field study program. They had a jeep to enable them travel deep into the rugged hinterland. On one of their travels the vehicle broke down and they had to employ the services of the village mechanic. The mechanic saw the problem, travelled to the city and bought spare parts, came back and fixed the car. He spent three full days working on the car. The clergyman was afraid that the mechanic’s service charges would be too high. In order to force the mechanic to settle for less, he went into the washroom, removed much of the money from his wallet and hid it in his socks. The idea was that when the mechanic tells him the cost he would open his wallet and say “Look, this is all I have.” So he comes out of the washroom and they are ready to leave. He says to the mechanic, “So now, what do you charge for your workmanship?” The mechanic looks at him and says, “You are a man of God. I do it for God. God will pay me. For you it is free of charge.”
Yes dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is the greatest martyr, the greatest witness. He lived the truth from the beginning of his life and ended by giving his life for it, the truth his Father sent him to bring to the world.
As John Lennon said: Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
We are called to be missionaries going out to the whole world and spreading the good news. We can never help anyone in this world when we are fully equipped or wealthy. By the fact we are helping the people who help the people we are becoming part of that universal mission of Christ. There are millions of people who have nothing to eat a day. Whatever you wanted to do for the people in the third world countries you need financial help, if you want to teach them you have to provide food clothing and transportation.
God is not asking us to be a mother Theresa or become a martyr, but he is giving you and me a chance to do what we can do to help at least one family or a person to lead a life worthy of human being.
There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help.
One evening a mother and a child were coming back home after a long evening walk and on the way they got into a restaurant and picked up their dinner package. While they were walking this little child saw a poor man in the nearby waste barrel searching for his daily food. This child remembered the catechism class where she learned about the loving God. She hold tightly on her mothers’ arm and asked Mammy, mammy let me ask you a question. Is God alive, yes, is our God is a good and loving God? Yes. Mammy my teacher told me today Our God is a good and loving God and wherever you are in need you pray to God and God will send angels to help you. Is it True Mom? Yes indeed. If that is right why didn’t God send and angel to help this poor man to find a meal a Day?
Wow that is a real aching question. Mammy just paused a moment. And said “honey, who told you that God did not send an angel today. He did send you. Take our dinner packet and go and give it to that poor man and be an Angel of God Today. Yes dear brothers and sisters. By helping the Mission you are becoming an angel of God for someone.
I thank most sincerely Bishop Edward Ukmiec, Director; Fr Joseph J Sicari and your loving and caring Pastor Fr Walter P Grabowski and all staffs parishioners of the church of Immaculate Conception for allowing me to come and stay here and for all your love and support. Dear friends; Write your name in the hearts of people you meet that is where it will stay.
Thank you so much for your love and help, I assure my prayers for you and Please keep the missionaries and their activities in your day to day prayers and be part of the mission duties of our Faith life.