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October 20, 2024, is Mission Sunday in the Catholic Church worldwide. I love the traditional hymn: “Precious promise God hath Given.” Its very first verse speaks volumes to mission-minded believers:

Precious promise God hath given

To the weary passerby

On your way from earth to heaven

I will guide thee with mine eye.

The entire life of any Christian is a journey on the way from earth to heaven which is well summarized in two of the most important words Jesus used, “Come” and “Go”. These two words summarize the Gospels themselves. Jesus set the pattern in calling all his disciples, “Come follow me, Come and See, Come away and rest”. He called them himself or through others and eventually at the end of the gospel he asked them to go. “COME” so that they may know Him and hear the word of life, receive God’s grace, and at the end, “GO”, to invite others, evangelize them, and share God’s graces with them.

Thus, we all have eyes and ears to receive and mouth to deliver the gospel message. If you know Jesus, then bring him to others by your effort, with your prayers, and with your money. We must all participate. We are all responsible. The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, addresses how serious that responsibility is: “…for all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then are they to call on him if they have not come to believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard of him? And how will they hear of him unless there is a preacher for them? And how will there be preachers if they are not sent?… How beautiful are the feet of the messenger of good news? (Rom. 10: 13-15). To earn those accolades, play your part and bring others to Jesus.

The Church today gives us an extra, eloquent example. All Church collections today are sent entirely to the Pope for the missions and evangelization. That is not easy anywhere, but it is a good example everywhere to show how important the work of mission is. All the collections of today and more are sent to help others. So let us all give. Nothing is too little nothing is too much. According to Pope John Paul the Great, nobody is so rich that he needs nothing and nobody is so poor that he cannot give anything. In addition, remember the parable of the man who sees a treasure in a field, buries it again, sells all he has, and then buys it.  That is because he knows there is a greater reward therefrom. So it is with giving for the work of the missions.

Last Sunday, Jesus in Mark 10 challenged his disciples to leave everything to follow Him. When Peter expressed doubts, Jesus said to him that for men this may be impossible but nothing is impossible for God. So today, let God speak to you too. In our communities, we can be tempted to be territorial and not want to reach out to others. Just remember the beautiful Church hymns: All to Jesus I surrender”, “This world is not my home” and “Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me home”. We are all called to be like Jesus the Sower and the Good Shepherd in a selfless way. Hear what Paul said: Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss” (Phil.3:8).

This may look like the worst time to ask for this kind of generosity of anyone when things are so tough. It may be so but is God not the provider of even the little we possess?  Remember what Mother Theresa said: the only kind of giving that brings real benefit is the one that hurts. Jesus’ promise to those who leave everything for the sake of the Gospel is very “fanimorous”, according to the new word coined into English from the Yoruba, “fani mora”, meaning attractive. He said “In truth, I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother father… for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land…” (Mk. 10:29-30).

A hundred times? That is the kind of deal that every one of us would like. So let us be generous in our work for the missions. Let us be selfless in our giving for the missions. Let us be relentless in our praying for the missions. God will provide for us and turn our thin sowing into abundant reaping in His miraculous way. Today is an ideal day to pray for all those engaged in the work of missions even our religion teachers like catechists, religious sisters, and priests. It is the same for those who serve in various capacities in our churches, like the choir, altar servers, churchwardens, guards, cleaners, and others. Pray as well that God may make you a strong agent of his mission of salvation so that God will guide you on your way from earth to heaven.

Rev. Fr. George Nwachukwu
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