How do we respond to the mission?

Jul 12, 2024

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Readings: Amos 7: 12-15;
Ephesians 1: 3-14 (or 1:3-10);
Gospel: Mark 6: 7-13

The call to mission has always been one of the marks of the Catholic Church i.e., the Church is Apostolic. This was the mandate given by Jesus to His disciples just before He ascended into heaven. Over the centuries, we see this zeal for apostolic mission when we read of the various saints who went everywhere to proclaim the Gospel, penetrating almost every corner of the earth. In fact, after every Mass, this is what we are told to do.

When the Mass was celebrated in Latin, after the final blessing is given the words “Ite, missa est” which literally means “Go, it is sent.” The English translation that we use today is “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your lives.” In both cases, we can see some elements of mission. The phrase “it is sent” can be taken as sending out the Word of Christ through us since we have partaken of the Table of the Word and of the Eucharist. After receiving both of these, we are supposed to go in peace and to glorify the Lord with the way we live. This begs the question; do we truly go in peace and glorify the Lord with our way of living? If we are honest with ourselves, we know that sometimes we don’t leave the Mass in peace and we most certainly don’t glorify the Lord by our lives.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus sent the Twelve Apostles in pairs to pave the way for His mission. Their mission was, first and foremost, to preach repentance and then only anointing and curing the sick. There are two important elements present here. The first is that they were sent out in pairs. This is important for mission because one can provide the necessary support to the other and vice versa. Both can look out for each other to ensure that both do not stray from their mission or their path. Going out on mission alone can be dangerous even if one’s faith is strong because, on our own, we might not be able to withstand temptations or challenges that come our way. When in pairs, both can help each other keep their peace and ensure that whatever each other do, it will be done for the glory of God and not for oneself. However, if both are to fall, then it will be disastrous. This is why both parties need to be constantly nourished by prayer and God’s grace.

The second element is the preaching of repentance. This is the core mission of both St John the Baptist as well as Jesus, to repent from sin and to go back to God. If a person refuses to repent, how can they receive God’s love and mercy? It is only when we repent of our sins that we see our need for God. Only after we have repented that we can receive the source of life, which is Christ. This holds true for us as well. During the Mass, we repent of our sins through the words of the Confiteor followed by the Gloria, which is the glorifying of God’s actions in our lives. This allows us to receive the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Christian living. If we ourselves are not willing to repent, how do we preach repentance to others or help them to see the need to repent.

The mission that has been entrusted to the Apostles is now given to us – to preach repentance and the Word of God.

How many of us take this mission seriously and to heart? Whenever we think of the word mission, we only think of priests or religious or sometimes lay people who go on missionary work. But that is a very narrow perception of mission The current Synodal theme of Communion, Participation and Mission should provide the impetus for all of to go on mission and not just a select few. However, if our lives do not reflect what we preach, then the words that we say and the things that we do will not mean anything. There are so many so-called influencers now trying to spread messages of hope and love but those are either morally driven or to gain popularity for themselves. We, on the other hand, do it for the glory of God.

Let us then resolve to always better our lives through the repentance of sin and to always have the peace of God in our hearts, especially after hearing the Word of God and receiving the Eucharist. After Mass, we are sent to carry these two things into the lives of those whom we meet, bringing them the joy of Christ and to bring glory to God by our way of living. That is what we are called to do.