The month of October is dedicated to mission. Our mother Church invites us to pray, in a special way, for mission and for missionaries who dedicate their lives to spreading the Good News throughout the world. Moreover, we are reminded that, by its nature, the Church is missionary. Consequently, being members of the same Church, we are all missionaries. We have received the mandate of Christ calling us to: “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” (Mat. 28:19). Thus, Christ is sending us to participate in his mission, a mission that was given him by God the Father, a mission consisting in bringing all people to God in order to have a share in his divine life. This mission is very important in that we all need to know God our Father, recognize his presence in our lives, and so to strengthen our relationship with him.
Aside from being a missionary month, October is a Marian month. Without taking this for granted, we can say that Mary deserves mention in our mission in that she is the star of evangelization. Mary is our model because she is the first disciple to spread the Good News about Christ. In fact, just after she conceived the Son of God, she went in a hurry to announce that good news to her cousin Elizabeth (Cf. Luke 1:34-44).
When Jesus is calling us to do mission, what do we understand? Are we to bring to fulfillment the mission he started on earth, or are we just to participate in the mission he has already brought to completion?
When I was in Novitiate, I remember we had a three-day internovitiate session in which we met novices from other congregations. When we were introduced to the vow of obedience, the speaker underscored that Jesus’s mission was not accomplished. Thus, he said that we are to continue the mission of Christ. Some days later, our Novice master corrected that statement. He pointed out that Jesus accomplished his mission. He declared this on the cross when he said: "It is finished" (John 19:30). From this, I came to know that the mission of Jesus on earth was accomplished; what we are asked to do is to participate in it. Needless to say, such a mission becomes mine. I make it my own for the glory of God and the salvation of mankind. In his 16th speech to missionaries sent to China, Mgr Guido Maria Conforti stressed that the mission of Christ is our own mission; the secret of his victories must also be the secret of our own success: the cross, the sacrifice of ourselves. In this perspective, I have to bear the mission of Christ as really my mission. Like saint Paul, "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16). The preaching of the Gospel is my raison d’être. I cannot remain tranquil while a huge number of people still live in ignorance of Christ, our Savior. This is the desire that has burnt my heart since I was introduced to the Institute of Xaverian Missionaries whose Charism is to proclaim the Gospel wherever Christ is not yet known.
In this month of October, we also celebrate the memorial of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, the Patroness of Missions. It is a good opportunity for me to learn how to properly do mission from this great Saint. As we might know, Therese never went to mission abroad; she was living in the Carmel of Lisieux, a cloistered convent. However, she was made a patroness of Missions. She did mission in her way, in her monastery. Her writings, that come from her concrete life, help us to grasp the core of mission. Her vision was all-embracing. Therese shows how the zeal of a Carmelite embraces the whole world. She was hoping with the grace of God to be useful to more than two missionaries, and she says: ”I could not forget to pray for all without casting aside simple priests whose mission at times is a difficult to carry out as that of apostles preaching to the infidels” (Saint Thérèse of Child Jesus, Story of a Soul, Manuscript C).
First of all, Therese expresses that she used to feel in her the vocation of the Priest. However, while desiring to be a priest, she would admire and envy the humility of St. Francis of Assisi. Thus, she changed her mind by saying that she felt the vocation of imitating St. Francis of Assisi in refusing the sublime dignity of the Priesthood. On this, she serves us as a model in living humility in our missionary work. Therese goes on to express her missionary desire in these terms:
“Ah, in spite of my littleness, I would like to enlighten souls like the Prophets and the Doctors; I have the vocation to be an Apostle. I would like to travel all over the world to preach your name and plant your glorious Cross on the soil of the unbelievers; but, oh my Beloved, one mission wouldn’t be enough for me, I would like at the same time to proclaim the Gospel in the five parts of the world and even in the most remote islands. I would like to be a missionary not only for a few years, but I would like to have been one since the creation of the world and to be one until the end of the ages” (Ibid., Manuscript C).
Therese would not have been afraid to embrace the martyrdom if ever she had been given a chance to go in mission. She wrote, “I would like to shed my blood for you, O my Beloved Savior, down to the last drop" (Ibid). What a model in my missionary life!... Her desire is a lamp that enlightens my missionary desire. I am committed to announcing Christ and accepting all (even the martyrdom) provided that Christ is known and loved by all.
I now enjoy participating in the mission of Christ in the Philippines through the apostolate I do. My apostolate is done in parallel with the Theological studies I am taking in LST. Though I am not that much engaged in mission, I am sent into mission. This is what I answer to those who tell me that I delayed to become a priest. Most of the time, I find it hard to convince them because it seems that they are more tired of waiting than I am. However, I try my best to show them that I am already in mission. Priesthood will come as a service for my congregation. I will not start mission when I am ordained a priest. I will instead continue the mission I have started. The only difference is that I will do it as a priest.
Overall, I am called by the Lord to do mission in a special way. I am sent out of my country to realize the desire I had before entering the Xavierian Institute. I do want to contribute in making all disciples. Everyone has the right to know and confess Christ as the one and Universal Redeemer. Without cost I have received; without cost, I am to give” (Cf. Mat. 10: 8). I pray that the Lord always enlightens my desire so as not to fall into oblivion.
