Lesson [29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A] Mission Sunday for the Diocese of Hong Kong

Every Christian Is a Missionary

My Dear Brothers and sisters, in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus commanded his disciples to go and do a missionary works. "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Jesus promise that He will accompany us until the end. However, we need endurance to do the missionary work. The Greek word for endurance was "hypomeno," [hoop-OH-mehn-oh] and its literal (etymological) meaning was to stay firm under. It could mean the firmness of a foundation that gives stability under a building. Or it could mean the firmness of someone who stands his ground when he is under attack. This kind of firmness is a key characteristic for Christians because every Christian is a missionary. It is not our job just to sit back and enjoy life, like the pagans and the hedonists who don't know the gospel.

Every Christian, every single one of us here today, is called by God to fulfill a mission in this world, to do something for Christ and the Church that no one else can do. We are Christ's soldiers, spreading his message into our corner of the world with our words, example, and actions. This Sunday is World Mission Sunday, we are called to pray and support the Church's full-time missionaries, the Church's courageous Special Forces.

The late Pope Benedict XVI once said: "The missionary mandate continues to be an absolute priority for all baptized persons... "It is therefore an urgent duty for everyone to proclaim Christ and his saving message... "Today there are countless people who are waiting for the proclamation of the gospel, those who are thirsting for hope and love..."Pope Francis, in his message for World Mission Sunday 2023, based on the story of the disciples who encounter Jesus on their way to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-35), invites all of us to "set out once more, illumined by our encounter with the risen Lord and prompted by his Spirit. Let us set out again with burning hearts, with our eyes open and our feet in motion. Let us set out to make other hearts burn with the word of God, to open the eyes of others to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God, in Christ, has bestowed upon all humanity."

This is our mission - every one of us. And the powers of evil at work in this fallen world, the same powers that crucified Jesus and populated the 2000-year history of the Church with thousands of Christian martyrs, those same powers of evil are working against us. Only the strength of true Christian hope can give us the joy and fortitude we need to persevere in our life-mission.

Christians Need to Keep Hope Healthy

At the beginning of this Letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, a city in northern Greece (modern-day Macedonia), St Paul uses a very interesting and very important phrase. He praises the Thessalonians for their "endurance in hope." This is not a popular phrase nowadays. And yet, St Paul puts it right up there with the "work of faith" and the "labor of love" as a key characteristic of Christian life.

Thessalonica was the second city in Europe where Paul had a chance to preach the Gospel. His preaching was well-received by many, and a local Christian church was founded there. But after a few weeks, some of the local leaders became so jealous of Paul's success that a violent mob raised a city-wide demonstration against him. Paul's new converts had to sneak him out of the city at night to bring him to safety. After he left, the Christians there continued to suffer persecution and hardship in the face of the old guard who felt threatened by the new religion. This is why "endurance" was so important for them: they were constantly being tempted to go back to their old ways, the easier and more comfortable ways.

We are also constantly facing this temptation. Being a faithful Catholic in a society full of anti-Catholic and anti-Christian influences demands non-stop effort and vigilance. What will enable us to keep up our effort?

The same thing that enabled the Thessalonians to keep up theirs: hope. The Thessalonians firmly trusted in Christ's promise that God himself would always walk beside them, guiding and protecting them on their journey to the abundant and eternal life that only Christ can give. Our great task in life is to endure, to persevere. And we can do that, if we keep our hope healthy.

Nourishing the Virtue of Hope

So, what can we do to strengthen our hope? Two things: nourish it and exercise it. We nourish hope by feeding our minds with knowledge about Christ's countless victories.

In the Bible, in the history of the Church, in the lives of the saints, and in the current experiences of active Catholics and missionaries around the world, we can find case after case in which God's grace has won a victory over sin, sorrow, suffering, and evil.

But we have to decide to pay attention to those things. If we just go with the flow of popular culture, we will be filling our minds with superficial gossip, tragic news that is gruesome, frightening, and spectacular enough to get good ratings on television, or worse.

But it's never enough just to eat right, we also have to exercise. We nourish hope by filling our mind with knowledge of Christ's victories, and we exercise hope by saying yes to God's invitations.

God is always inviting us to something. As the Catechism puts it: God "never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness" (#30). God may be inviting some of those here to follow him as a full-time missionary, priest, religious, or consecrated lay person.

God may be inviting others simply to take a little less time for self-indulgence and a little more time for self-giving, in prayer, service to our neighbors, or both. Whatever invitation he is making, when we say yes, we exercise hope, and therefore strengthen our Christian hope - the key to enduring life's trials joyfully and meaningfully.

In today's Mass, as Christ proves once again that he is worthy of our trust, let's promise him that this week we will take concrete steps to nourish and exercise our Christian hope.