Readings: Heb. 12:18-19.21-24, Ps.47, Mark 6:7-13
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.
EXPERIENCING THE NATURE OF OUR MISSION
The rebellious nature of humanity has always kept us away from responding to God's invitation to Life of love, holiness, faithfulness and integrity. Hence, humanity has always failed to understand the true ways of God, his creator. However, God has not stopped caring and stretching his hands of love towards us.
In every generation, God always sends messengers to remind us of his love and plan for humanity. This is exactly what we have in our Gospel passage today, where Jesus sent his twelve disciples, the foundation of the future Church community, to do exactly the same work of evangelization that he has been doing.
Hence, he gave them authority over unclean spirits and instructed them to preach repentance, that radical conversion towards the vision of the Kingdom; they were to anoint the sick and heal them. These three activities cover the whole nature of the human person: spiritual, mental and physical. Healing and wholeness, health and holiness. In this mission, they were instructed to travel lightly, bringing only what they absolutely needed. No food or money or even a change of clothes. They will not need these things because they will be taken care of by the people they serve.
So in this Gospel, Jesus is preparing his disciples for a task ahead. He lets them experience the nature of their mission, the challenges, obstacles and dangers which await them. He gave them the guidelines about the mission and sent them out. So, they succeeded because the power of God was working in them. The message entrusted to the disciples by Jesus is to offer peace and announce the coming of God's kingdom. This same message of peace and justice, forgiveness and healing has been entrusted to the Church down the centuries.
Now, it is our turn to witness it. The disciples returned with joy. We will experience that same joy when we do what the Lord wants because, our joy is rooted in our identifying with Jesus, not in what we do. So the source of our joy should be our status in heaven as beloved sons and daughters of God, and not on our success over the evil forces or the things of this passing world. Thus, the Lord has entrusted to us an awesome responsibility and privilege to carry the message of God’s love, peace and mercy to the world.
Little wonder, in our first reading we are reminded of who we are. Because by virtue of this mission, we are invited to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a ‘first-born son’ and a citizen of heaven. Unfortunately, many of the disciples have to face rejection and persecution from the people, who, through their rebellious attitude, have refused to believe in God even though he has always been so patient, loving, caring and forgiving. This is what we see in the lives of Paul Miki and Companions, whose memorial we are celebrating today. They are the Holy Martyrs of Nagasaki in Japan.
These twenty-six Martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children, all united in common faith and love for Jesus, their good Shepard. They remained faithful to the very end and faced martyrdom with courage and so received from Jesus the crown of true and everlasting glory.
Dear friends, today we are reminded about the condition and nature of our mission, calling humanity to repent from our sinful and rebellious attitudes in order to embrace the compassionate love and care that God is offering us. As disciples of Christ, we have received a lot from God without payment; we should learn to give without expecting a reward.
Therefore, we must offer to others these same gifts which we have received. We are to show love to people, forgive, help the needy and share with one another the gifts God has blessed us with and if our love and care are rejected, we should offer it as a sign for the judgement day. Remember, your kind gestures today can turn someone's life around now or later and by so doing we extend God’s divine compassion to rebellious humanity.
LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we are reminded about the condition and nature of our mission for which you sacrificed a lot to save us from our rebellious and sinful attitudes, open our hearts once again to repent and embrace your compassionate love and care for us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed day.
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