World Mission Sunday

October 23, 2005 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time World Mission Sunday

A missionary was walking in Africa when he heard the sound of a lion behind him. "Oh Lord," prayed the missionary, "Grant in Thy goodness that the lion walking behind me is a good Christian lion." And then, in the silence that followed, the missionary heard the lion praying too: "Bless us oh Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive, from thy bounty through Christ, or Lord, Amen.”


Today is World Mission Sunday. It’s a day when we’re all asked to be generous in our support of missions and missionaries. But, I got to wondering exactly what is a mission? The word means a lot of different things. The American Heritage Dictionary gives 7 different definitions.

Number one is “a body of persons sent to conduct negotiations or establish relations with a foreign country.” That’s not really the one we’re after, but in the old days, and sometimes even today, our missionaries can help establish relations with a foreign country.

Second is “a body of persons sent to a foreign land by a religious organization, especially a Christian organization, to spread its faith or provide educational, medical, and other assistance.” That sounds like the one we’re looking for, but let’s see what else they have.

Third is “a Christian church or congregation with no cleric of its own that depends for support on a larger religious organization.” Another one that’s part of the answer, but not the whole thing.

Fourth is “a series of special Christian services for purposes of proselytizing.” That’s one we know about. We had that kind of a mission here at St. Bernadette just a few years ago.
Definition number five says “A welfare or educational organization established for the needy people of a district.” Catholic Charities, and many other churches run that type of mission, right here in St. Louis.

Number six is “a special assignment given to a person or group.” They give an example of an agent on a secret mission. Our missionaries are definitely on a special assignment.

And finally, definition number seven: “An inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service; a vocation.” We’ll come back to that one in a minute.

Besides the dictionary definitions, we’ve all heard of a “mission accomplished”. Astronauts go on space missions. NASA’s space center in Houston is called “Mission Control.” Speaking of Houston, you could call the Cardinals attempt to beat the Astros, “Mission Impossible.”

How about “Mission Impossible”? Remember that? Starting in 1966 and running through 1973, for 168 episodes, we heard the taped voice say “Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your assignment, should you decide to accept it……” Then there would be some outlandish plan to stop the bad guys that was so intricate and so difficult that only the Impossible Mission Force, the IMF, could possibly succeed. The recorded message always ended with the warning that if any of the IMF were “caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.” Then the tape would go up in smoke.

You remember Jake and Elwood, the Blues brothers. They were on a mission from God. Their mission was to save the Catholic home where they had been raised. Of course, the destroyed half the police cars in Illinois in the process.

Now adays, lots of companies and organizations have Mission Statements, outlining their reason for being. We have a Mission Statement here at St. Bernadette. Anybody know what it is? It’s hanging on the wall opposite the rest rooms in the back of church. It’s a little wordy, but in a nutshell it says that we, the members of St. Bernadette Parish have been called to be Christ’s disciples and to spread and promote the Kingdom of God through Christian worship, education, and service.”

Our mission comes very close to the second dictionary definition, except that we aren’t sent to a foreign land. Our mission of “worship, education, and service” is almost identical to what the dictionary defines, but our service is to the local community, AND to foreign lands. All the missionaries aren’t in foreign lands.

In a few minutes, we’ll ask you to put an envelope like this into the collection basket. That’s our contribution to the foreign missions. And, it’s very important. But if you think that’s the end of your missionary activity, you haven’t been paying attention. That’s just the beginning.

St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians in the second reading today about his visit to them. He tells them that they became a model for all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Not only that, but the word of God has sounded forth from them to every place their faith has gone forth. Paul is most definitely a missionary, but the people of Thessalonia have become missionaries, too, by their words and by their actions,.

That’s the call that each one of us has received from God. It’s not enough to just believe in Him, it’s critical for us to share that belief with others. In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear the familiar statement that the most important commandment is to love God. And, the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. And loving our neighbor doesn’t just mean looking the other way when their dog makes a mess in our yard. It means sharing our faith, just as Paul shared his.


Our protestant brothers and sisters do it. When the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons knock on your door, they’re on a mission. They call them mission teams. Young adult Mormons are required to spend a year away from home, knocking on doors.
Thanks be to God, we’re not asked to do that! But we are asked to share our faith, to be missionaries in our own little corner of the world. So, how are you doing? When was the last time you asked someone to come to church with you? Maybe a Catholic who hasn’t been to mass in a while? Or maybe someone who has no church of their own. They may be just waiting for you to ask.

When you hear people make uninformed statements, or even malicious statements, about the Catholic Church, what do you do? Do you pretend not to hear? Do you walk away? Or do you defend your faith? Some of us aren’t good at apologetics, myself included. But there are places where you can get the information.

If someone asks you a tough question, you can say “That’s a good question. Rather than try to explain that, let me get you some information.” Then go to the Sisters of St. Paul’s bookstore on Watson Road and tell them what you need. They’ll direct you to a book or pamphlet that has the information. Or go to Catholic Answers on the Internet. They have answers to just about any question you might have.

Read the St. Louis Review. There’s a lot of good information about our faith in the Review, especially in Archbishop Burke’s column. Another good place to find apologetic information is on St. Dominic Savio parish’s web site. My friend, John Beckman, writes a column called “Ask a Deacon”; good stuff.

Remember the dictionary’s definition number 7 of mission, “an inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service; a vocation.“ Helping people to see the truth. That’s being a missionary. We’re all called to do it by sharing in the Eucharist. We are all one body in Christ.

How about people in need? You’re all very generous here when it comes to helping the poor with the yellow bags. Your response to special collections for the poor, the hungry, victims of disasters and every other good cause is always very good. You’re fulfilling part of our mission of service. But, you’re presence is also important.

Tuesday evening a patient died at the hospital. The nurse had called me into his room just before he passed away. He was an older man, in his 90’s. His daughter was the only one there. While we were talking, we noticed that the patient didn’t seem to be breathing. The nurse came in and couldn’t find a pulse. I offered to stay with the daughter until the rest of the family could get there.

I waited in the hall while she made some phone calls and then I sat with her until her mom and brother and sister got there. Now you all know better than anybody that I don’t usually have anything particularly profound to say. All I did was sit and listen to her tell her story. I did the same with the rest of the family, when they got there.

I’m not telling you this story because I think I did anything special. I’m telling you because it shows that we can all be missionaries, sometimes by just sitting there listening. We can be missionaries to strangers. We can be missionaries to friends. We can especially be missionaries to our families. The next time someone comes to your door to talk about their faith, invite them in for a cup of coffee. Then tell them about YOUR faith.

I know that you’ll all be as generous as you can to the foreign missions. You always are and they, and we appreciate it. But I hope you’ll look at that gift as a symbol of your real missionary work, the work you do right here in south St. Louis County. As St. Paul tells us, we can become a model for all the believers.