By Father Rich Tomkosky
This past weekend was World Mission Sunday in the Catholic Church. We are called to pray for all the Catholic missionaries throughout the world that God will protect them and guide them with wisdom and courage as they bring the truth and love of the Catholic faith to the ends of the earth. We need to encourage our children and grandchildren to consider whether God is calling them to this noble task to become a missionary abroad or even here at home.
We are increasingly becoming a “mission” territory here in the United States as we become more shorthanded with priests and religious and the country becomes more secular and pagan in outlook, so good example is essential but not enough. We need concrete action. But even if we are not called to go overseas, all of us are called to be missionaries to go forth to bring the truth and love of our Catholic faith to others by virtue of our Baptism. So how do we effectively do this? In company with Our Lady, who is the model disciple of Jesus and hence also the model evangelizer or missionary! There are three major ways to witness to our Catholic faith and bring it to others.
Prayer
In the Gospel of Luke, we hear that Mary “pondered everything in her heart.” What a beautiful definition of prayer. Prayer must be the foundation of all external witness and missionary activity and outreach. Why? Because prayer brings the graces to transform the hearts that will later hear the preached Word of God. This is “the Soul of the Apostolate.” If you study Church history, and there was a good bishop put in charge of a mission territory, the first thing he would do would be to invite or start a contemplative group of sisters or brothers to come to the territory and establish a monastery to pray for the success of the upcoming missionary activity. If you want to be a good witness of the Catholic faith to others, please daily pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and ask our Lady and her Divine spouse, the Holy Spirit, to give you the courage and wisdom to share the faith well. Prayer is also the primary way God converts hearts. Never give up on family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and lapsed parishioners who are seemingly far away from God and the practice of the faith. Prayer can bring them back — witness the life of Saint Monica in relation to her husband and her son, Saint Augustine.
Sacrifice: self-denial, penance, and daily embrace and love for the Cross
Witness the Blessed Mother standing at the foot of the Cross with Jesus. This is not a popular spirituality today, but it is essential to fruitful missionary activity, be it home or abroad. Again, this is the reason for establishing the contemplative orders first in mission territories. Saint Therese as a contemplative Carmelite used to read the paper (Mother Superior wanted “to be in the know”) re: France and see who the “lost” souls were, such as fallen priests, men being ready to get executed for heinous crimes, or stories about criminals, and she would beg Jesus to let her take on some suffering for their conversion, so they would not be lost forever! Some souls are only won by prayer and fasting as Jesus points out in the Gospel. Many elderly people, the sick, and the infirm think they can’t help in the spread of the faith and the conversion of souls because of their lack of external strength, but if only they realized with those inner spiritual resources they can help save souls, simply by uniting their daily sufferings with Jesus on the Cross in company with our Lady for the conversion of souls. This is spiritual dynamite! Remember we are all sick and frail at times. Don’t let those sufferings be wasted!
Outward witness or testimony to our Catholic faith by words and actions
This is the aspect of missionary activity we first tend to think of, forgetting that prayer and sacrifice must come first, to prepare the spiritual soil for ppl to hear the Word of God proclaimed by our words and actions. Remember to think of Mary at the Wedding Feast at Cana when she said, “Do whatever He (Jesus) tells you.” We must point people to Jesus and to the Church, not to ourselves! How many opportunities we have to point people to the Lord by our words and actions. As Saint Peter says in his first letter, “we must give a reason for our hope to others.” We must not hide our faith away like a lamp under a bushel basket. It is a great temptation to just blend in with the crowd, but the Lord is counting on us to be His witnesses. Ask God to help us do better at that each day, in joy, as we take the next good step in holiness, in company with Our Lady. God bless you.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.
Overview
The Meaning of World Mission Sunday for Each of Us
By Father Rich Tomkosky
This past weekend was World Mission Sunday in the Catholic Church. We are called to pray for all the Catholic missionaries throughout the world that God will protect them and guide them with wisdom and courage as they bring the truth and love of the Catholic faith to the ends of the earth. We need to encourage our children and grandchildren to consider whether God is calling them to this noble task to become a missionary abroad or even here at home.
We are increasingly becoming a “mission” territory here in the United States as we become more shorthanded with priests and religious and the country becomes more secular and pagan in outlook, so good example is essential but not enough. We need concrete action. But even if we are not called to go overseas, all of us are called to be missionaries to go forth to bring the truth and love of our Catholic faith to others by virtue of our Baptism. So how do we effectively do this? In company with Our Lady, who is the model disciple of Jesus and hence also the model evangelizer or missionary! There are three major ways to witness to our Catholic faith and bring it to others.
Prayer
In the Gospel of Luke, we hear that Mary “pondered everything in her heart.” What a beautiful definition of prayer. Prayer must be the foundation of all external witness and missionary activity and outreach. Why? Because prayer brings the graces to transform the hearts that will later hear the preached Word of God. This is “the Soul of the Apostolate.” If you study Church history, and there was a good bishop put in charge of a mission territory, the first thing he would do would be to invite or start a contemplative group of sisters or brothers to come to the territory and establish a monastery to pray for the success of the upcoming missionary activity. If you want to be a good witness of the Catholic faith to others, please daily pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and ask our Lady and her Divine spouse, the Holy Spirit, to give you the courage and wisdom to share the faith well. Prayer is also the primary way God converts hearts. Never give up on family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and lapsed parishioners who are seemingly far away from God and the practice of the faith. Prayer can bring them back — witness the life of Saint Monica in relation to her husband and her son, Saint Augustine.
Sacrifice: self-denial, penance, and daily embrace and love for the Cross
Witness the Blessed Mother standing at the foot of the Cross with Jesus. This is not a popular spirituality today, but it is essential to fruitful missionary activity, be it home or abroad. Again, this is the reason for establishing the contemplative orders first in mission territories. Saint Therese as a contemplative Carmelite used to read the paper (Mother Superior wanted “to be in the know”) re: France and see who the “lost” souls were, such as fallen priests, men being ready to get executed for heinous crimes, or stories about criminals, and she would beg Jesus to let her take on some suffering for their conversion, so they would not be lost forever! Some souls are only won by prayer and fasting as Jesus points out in the Gospel. Many elderly people, the sick, and the infirm think they can’t help in the spread of the faith and the conversion of souls because of their lack of external strength, but if only they realized with those inner spiritual resources they can help save souls, simply by uniting their daily sufferings with Jesus on the Cross in company with our Lady for the conversion of souls. This is spiritual dynamite! Remember we are all sick and frail at times. Don’t let those sufferings be wasted!
Outward witness or testimony to our Catholic faith by words and actions
This is the aspect of missionary activity we first tend to think of, forgetting that prayer and sacrifice must come first, to prepare the spiritual soil for ppl to hear the Word of God proclaimed by our words and actions. Remember to think of Mary at the Wedding Feast at Cana when she said, “Do whatever He (Jesus) tells you.” We must point people to Jesus and to the Church, not to ourselves! How many opportunities we have to point people to the Lord by our words and actions. As Saint Peter says in his first letter, “we must give a reason for our hope to others.” We must not hide our faith away like a lamp under a bushel basket. It is a great temptation to just blend in with the crowd, but the Lord is counting on us to be His witnesses. Ask God to help us do better at that each day, in joy, as we take the next good step in holiness, in company with Our Lady. God bless you.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.