We Are Ennobled and Gifted for Mission
My very first response when I experienced a call to be a religious priest was a firm, “No way, Lord.”
I responded so for two reasons. Firstly, I did not feel worthy to partake in the holy priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ as an ordained priest. I have done, said, and seen so many things that I believed disqualified me completely from being a minister in the Church. Secondly, I felt utterly incapable of such a vocation. I felt I did not have what it takes to commit myself to a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience in a community of men for life.
“I am not worthy…I am not capable.” These are two thoughts that kill our spiritual life and hinder our sense of mission. We must resist and overcome them if we are going to embrace our God-given mission.
To overcome these two lies, we must believe two truths all the time even if we do not feel them.
Firstly, God in Christ makes us worthy. In the words of St. Paul, “Brothers and sisters, Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly…God proved His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” He did not wait for us to become good enough before He died for us. This saving death of Jesus gives us unconditional acceptance and dignity of God’s children, “Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by His life.”(Rom 5:6-11)
In and through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we share in the very worth of the saints too, “In Christ, God has made us worthy to share the lot of the saints in light.”(Col 1:12) We share in the very holiness and fidelity of the saints! Can we think of a greater worth of being reconciled to God as His children and even sharing in the very dignity of the saints? Nothing we have or do can make us worthy of this status that God graciously bestows on us in Christ Jesus.
Secondly, God in Christ makes us capable. St. Matthew tells us that Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for the crowd because “they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd.” He chose to act through His disciples i.e. through those who would freely belong to Him and allow Him to provide for them and act through them. Thus, He summoned His disciples and gave them all that they needed to be on mission for His sake, “He gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.” Jesus’ disciples would lack nothing that they truly need as long as they were bent on being on mission for Him. They are not even to demand repayment from those whom they serve, “Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God has created each one of us for a specific purpose in His kingdom. He does not bring us into His kingdom through baptism without calling us to spread this kingdom by loving and serving others in a way that makes His kingdom present and known by others. The mission is not just about doing good things but manifesting the kingdom of God to others by our words and deeds, “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of God is at hand.’”(Mt 9:36-10:8) We must find and embrace this mission if we are going to have strength, hope and joy in this life.
