The Christian's Mission

Throughout the month of October, we have been reflecting on the mission that all Christians are called to fulfill.  Week after week, we gather to celebrate the Eucharist.  Jesus, who is the host at this gathering, welcomes us, instructs us and feeds us with the special food that is only available at this table.  Then he sends us out into the world so that we can share the good news of the love we have encountered here with others.  Day after day, we share with our brothers and sisters the good news of God's mercy that we have discovered in our own lives, and God continues to work in the hearts of others who have heard our words, encouraging them to discover the joy of knowing Him.

In the early centuries of Christianity, many who witnessed the joy that was part of the everyday life of those who followed Jesus would wonder what it was that caused them to be so convinced.  One writer said it this way: Christians are indistinguishable from other people, either by nationality, language or customs.  They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life ... They live in their own countries as through they were only passing through ... but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country (Letter to Diognetus).

We hear an echo of this conviction in the words of the tax collector who is mentioned in today's gospel.  Knowing that he was in the presence of God, all he could bring himself to say was: O God, be merciful to me a sinner (Lk 18:13) and as he wrote to Timothy, Saint Paul was very aware of the fact that his time on earth was drawing to a close, yet he was convinced that there was another destiny to which he was heading.  I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand ... from now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge will award to me on that day (2 Tim 4:6-8).

This past week, we celebrated the liturgical Memorial of Saint John Paul II.  On the day when he began his pontificate, crowds of people filled Saint Peter's Square in Rome, all of them eagerly wanting to hear the words he would speak.  The words of that first homily still ring out across the years that have come and gone: Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and to accept his power (Homily for the Mass of Inauguration, 22 October 1978).  Throughout the following 27 years, the Polish Pope travelled the world, greeted people young and old, rich and poor, and all the while, he continued to encourage us with the same words: Do not be afraid!

The mission of the Church is still the same today as it always has been.  The Lord always hears the cry of the oppressed.  The Lord is not deaf to the wail of the orphan, nor to the widow when she pours out her complaint (Sir 35:12-14).  We must never be afraid to cry out to God in our time of need, or to cry out to God when we recognize the needs of others ... and we should never be afraid to welcome Christ, to accept his power and to joyfully share with others the goodness that our God has made known to us.