Go and Invite Others to the Banquet
Today we celebrate World Mission Sunday. It's the one Sunday in the year which occurs in October (missionary month) when the entire global Church comes together to support the mission. This year Pope Francis recommends to all dioceses throughout the world the service of the Pontifical Mission Societies. They represent the primary means “by which Catholics are imbued from infancy with a truly universal and missionary outlook and [are] also a means for instituting an effective collecting of funds for all the missions, each according to its needs” (Ad Gentes, 38). For this reason, the collections of World Mission Day in all the local Churches are entirely destined to the universal fund of solidarity that the Pontifical Society of the Propagation of the Faith then distributes in the Pope’s name for the needs of all the Church’s missions: support churches, hospitals, schools and vocations in countries where the Church is new, young or poor. In this way, every Catholic community, in every country, sends a powerful message of faith, hope and love on this special day. This is our chance to show love and solidarity to our global Church family. Through our prayers, we support missionaries everywhere in spreading the Good News. And by donating we respond to Christ’s call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.
On 25 January 2024, Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Pope Francis coined the theme of this Sunday as: Go and invite everyone to the banquet (cf. Mt 22:9). The pope says that "in the parable, the king asks the servants to bring the invitation to his son’s wedding banquet. That banquet is a reflection of the eschatological banquet. It is an image of ultimate salvation in the Kingdom of God, fulfilled even now by the coming of Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God, who has given us life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), symbolized by the table set with succulent food and with fine wines, when God will destroy death forever (cf. Is 25:6-8)." We are first of all sent out and it is by our willingness to leave everything behind and go. But we are not just going there, we are going to invite everyone we meet without exclusion. Where are we inviting them? to the Eucharistic banquet, to Mass!
Thus, Pope Francis says that "in this year devoted to prayer in preparation for the Jubilee of 2025, I wish to encourage all to deepen their commitment above all to take part in the celebration of Mass and to pray for the Church’s mission of evangelization. In obedience to the Saviour’s command, she does not cease to pray, at every Eucharistic and liturgical celebration, the “Our Father”, with its petition, “Thy kingdom come”. In this way, daily prayer and the Eucharist in particular make us pilgrims and missionaries of hope, journeying towards everlasting life in God, towards the nuptial banquet that God has prepared for all his children." Are we ready to take up this mission to invite others too to the banquet? How many have people have you brought to the Lord?
When we are sent, we must be humble and not seeking our glory like James and John in today's Gospel who were asking right and left-hand places in Jesus' Kingdom but working for the glory of God and bringing many to God so that we all can share in the eschatological banquet. And when we are sent, we have to remember that it involves drinking the cup that Jesus himself drunk. James and John were ready to drink the cup of Jesus and indeed they drunk it by suffering and dying like he did. In our mission, are we ready to drink the Cup of Jesus? With the benefit of the Gospels and the teachings of the Church, let us reaffirm our faith in our suffering Savior and embrace our own suffering in imitation of Christ.
What kind of cup might the Lord Jesus have in mind for each one of us who are his followers? For some disciples such a cup will entail physical suffering and the painful struggle of martyrdom - the readiness to die for one's faith in Christ. But for many followers of Jesus Christ, it entails the long routine of the Christian life, with all its daily sacrifices, disappointments, set-backs, struggles, and temptations. A disciple must be ready to lay down his or her life in martyrdom for Christ and be ready to lay it down each and every day in the little and big sacrifices required as well in order to bring others to the banquet.
We are being sent this Sunday to go and bring others to the banquet. Put it to yourself and bring someone to Mass today and you will surely have followed the Lord's command.
Let us Pray
Lord, I am pleased that you are always sending me out to go and bring your people to your banquet, may your Holy Spirit guide me to fulfil your mission entrusted to you. But I am also aware that this mission entails drinking your cup. I graciously accept the cup of your holy will today. Help me understand that the path to glory passes through sacrifice, self-giving, and suffering. May I always exercise leadership in my family and community as a servant to all. Amen
Be blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment