A Reflection From our Pastoral Team
Jesus, our Savior, and Redeemer, not only sends his disciples to proclaim the Good News, but he also sends each of us to do the same. This mission is an obligation not only for priests and consecrated persons but for all men and women who have been baptized. How can we see, experience, and hear from our Savior if “the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few”?
Jesus not only asks for help from his priests and consecrated persons to spread the Good News to all corners of the world, but he also asks it from you, who are baptized, who come to the Holy Eucharist, who read the Word of God. You who pray and say you have an intimate relationship with Jesus and who say you believe in God. Many Catholic Christians do not take this commissioning seriously because they do not trust the words of Jesus; they do not believe that Jesus is going to provide and give much more than what they need to carry out the Word of God. This material and seductive world consumes and loses many Catholic Christians every day. Listen carefully to Jesus’ invitation and appeal to all who call ourselves Catholics. “He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.”
Perhaps Jesus’ demanding and radical invitation is challenging to understand. However, many men and women now enjoy God’s full presence in heaven and have accepted that radical invitation from Jesus. Maybe you and I are not ready to accept such a radical invitation. Still, we can bring the Good News of Jesus around our environment with our example, behavior, lifestyle, treatment of others, profession, and faith in Jesus.
We are all called to bring the Good News of Jesus everywhere in one way or another, but we must do something so every human knows Jesus. We cannot sit idly by and leave that invitation to other people. It is very easy to justify yourself and make excuses. Each has to evaluate their life as a Catholic and ask themselves what they are doing so that other people know Jesus. Otherwise, we will not be good Christians, as Pope Francis tells us. We should never worry about how we are going to do it. God will always speak, act, and work in us.
Let God be God in our lives; we will realize how God will do wonders in us and others if we let him work and act. If we read the Gospel of this day carefully and slowly, we will realize that the disciples believed Jesus, and thanks to this, you and I know Jesus. Would we like other people to know Jesus as we have known him through the preaching and example of the disciples?
If we answer yes, let us take our commissioning as seriously as the disciples did. Maybe we will not do it exactly as the disciples did because we do not yet feel capable and prepared. But if we let Jesus act and work in our lives, we will see that we can do similar things. Why can’t we if the disciples and all the saints did it? Let us have faith and trust in Jesus like them.
I imagine it was not easy for them. It was a lifelong process and change. If we have not started, we can start today. It will never be too late to accept Jesus’ invitation. I am sure Jesus will never disappoint us because He always keeps His word.
What prevents us from accepting that call of Jesus? Is it material comfort, friendships, pleasures, and insecurities? If that is our impediment, let us ask God to increase our faith and trust in Him. If we continue to trust in ourselves and not in God, our gaze will always be on what is seen and not on what is not. Because what is seen is transitory, and what is not seen is eternal, as St. Paul tells us.
I am sure all the saints had doubts, insecurities, and fears. However, once they trusted God and put all their faith in Him, they achieved what every Catholic Christian should long for with all their heart and soul: Heaven. Eternal Life. If we want and long with all our heart and soul to reach HEAVEN, then let us take the message of Jesus everywhere so that others can also know it and thus reach the place that Jesus has prepared for us for all eternity. May it be so.
With care and respect, Fr. Alberto Villafan, OFM.
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