Oct.18^th, 2015  Mission Sunday homily- Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI

IS 53:10-11; Heb 4:14-16; Mk 10:35-45

For Readings

http://www.usccb.org/nab/101815.shtml

Our Holy Father Pope Francis in his message for Mission Sunday 2015, in the context of the Year of Consecrated Life said, “Mission is a passion for Jesus and at the same time a passion for his people. When we pray before Jesus crucified, we see the depth of his love which gives us dignity and sustains us. At the same time, we realize that the love flowing from Jesus’ pierced heart expands to embrace the People of God and all humanity. We realize once more that he wants to make use of us to draw closer to his beloved people and all those who seek him with a sincere heart…   Dear brothers and sisters, a true missionary is passionate for the Gospel. Saint Paul said: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16). The Gospel is the source of joy, liberation and salvation for all men and women. The Church is aware of this gift, and therefore she ceaselessly proclaims to everyone “what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes” (1 Jn 1:1). The mission of the servants of the Word – bishops, priests, religious and laity – is to allow everyone, without exception, to enter into a personal relationship with Christ. In the full range of the Church’s missionary activity, all the faithful are called to live their baptismal commitment to the fullest, in accordance with the personal situation of each”.

World Mission Sunday was established by Pope Pius XI in 1926 in response to a request from the ‘Association for the Propagation of Faith’(APF), the official mission-funding society for the whole Catholic Church, to establish ‘a day of prayer and propaganda for the missions’ to be celebrated on the same day in every Catholic diocese, parish and institute in the world’. This Sunday we are sharing in this great mission. World Mission Sunday is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit ourselves to the Church's missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice.

Drawing our attention to Jesus’ universal mission mandate, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations”, Former Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI in his 2012 message reminded us that even today, the mission ad Gentes must be the constant horizon and the paradigm of every ecclesial activity. Because, the identity of the Church herself is constituted by faith in the Mystery of God, who revealed himself in Christ to bring us salvation, and by the mission of witnessing and proclaiming Him to the world until He comes. As Blessed Pope John Paul II says in His Redemptoris missio, like St. Paul, we should be attentive towards those who are far, to those who do not yet know Christ and have not yet experienced the paternity of God, in the awareness that "the missionary cooperation includes new forms-not only economic assistance, but also direct participation to evangelization". Today we need to find out the way God want us to participate in our living situations.

Over one billion Catholics all over the world observe today as “World Mission Sunday.” It is an observance of three fold duties, namely spiritual support, emotional support and material support for spreading the life-giving message of Kingdom of God revealed through Jesus. This annual celebration of Mission Sunday gives us a chance to reflect on the importance of the evangelizing mission for the life of the Church. It reminds us that we are one with the Church around the world and that we are all committed to carrying on the mission of Christ, however different our situations may be. Our needs to convey the same message of salvation may be varying from place to place. Therefore everybody has a role and is capable of doing that given role according to the demanding situations. The present Holy Father Pope Francis stresses the importance of Christian charity with love and simplicity as the key note of evangelization. We can’t separate Christian faith from Christian charity.

The ‘Year of Consecrated life’ inspires us to get energized with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through prayer, reading of the Bible, study and reflections of the word of God and the teachings of the Church, and to be always engaged in our mission of evangelization and re-evangelization according to the need and guided by the Spirit. Today we need to join our Holy Father Pope Francis who invokes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the work of evangelization and particularly on those who dedicate their labor to its cause, so that - by the grace of God - the work of evangelization might ever more decisively make its way in the world and in human history. Repeating the words of Blessed John Henry Newman, along with Pope Francis let us pray saying, “Accompany us, O Lord, your missionaries to evangelize in the land, put the right words on their lips, make their efforts fruitful” and implore the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of Evangelization, that she might accompany all the missionaries of the Gospel. Let us be the missionaries, direct and indirect, at different levels using our god- given blessings and gifts. God bless you.