The communal nature of Christian mission
July 14—15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Am 7:12-15; Psalm 85, R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.; Eph 1:3-14 or 1:3-10; Gospel—Mk 6:7-13
These days we are reading missioning Gospels for our Masses. This Sunday we have the missioning of the 12 apostles.
Let us reflect on the qualities of mission we glean from today’s Gospel: one, mission as collaborative; two, mission as total trust and detachment; and three, mission as a focused enterprise.
In this Gospel, the Lord sent them in pairs. After he called them, he “began to send them out two by two.” (cf. Mark 6:7-13) We saw this also when he sent out the 72 disciples in pairs. (cf. Luke 10:1)This is a very nice reminder that mission is always collaborative. In the Gospel passages we cited, they do mission work together physically. This is ideal. It is always good to work together in teams of two or three for support.
But beyond the physical presence for collaboration, this is a deeper source of collaborative work or communal mission. The Jesuits call it the union of hearts and minds.
Collaborative
More than the physical presence to one another, it is this spiritual union of hearts and minds sharing in one vision and mission that is very important.Think of your own organizations or even your families. We all have visions and missions as communities, whether clearly articulated or not.
Families, for example, create or develop a certain culture that is defined by shared core values and ways of doing things. It is this culture that develops an environment that nurtures the members of the family.
As the younger members of the family move on and start to live their own life and have their own families, they live by these core values and create a similar culture and environment.
This is the union of hearts and minds that allows a communal or collaborative living out of mission.
St. Ignatius of Loyola nurtured this union of hearts and minds through the numerous letters he received from and sent to brother Jesuits he missioned to all corners of the world to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.
Physically they were separated, spread out on different continents, but united in heart and mind. This embodies the communal nature of Christian mission.
The second quality of mission is total trust and detachment.
The Lord “instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.”
Focus
It is a radical detachment from material things to develop total trust in God’s providence. In the end, it is this total trust in God’s providence that matters more than detachment.The third quality of mission, which also flows from detachment and trust, is living out one’s mission in a very focused way. Mission is a very focused enterprise.
As the Lord again instructed, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.”
There are two points of focus here. One is to be physically focused, i.e., not to be distracted by too many activities or involvements. Stay in one place and do not be roaming around, and focus on one’s mission and do not be distracted by other “attractions.”
This is true both literally and figuratively. The literal meaning is easy enough to understand.
The figurative meaning is, do not be tempted by very subtle distractions, some benign or benevolent and some malignant or malevolent.
The benign or benevolent distractions are, when one begins to show some progress and success in one’s mission, others would invite you to partnerships. This can come to a point where one spreads oneself too thinly.
The malignant or malevolent distraction can be from the evil spirit. St. Ignatius of Loyola pointed out that when one is close to doing God’s will or mission, the evil spirit will go all out to distract, discourage, prevent you from succeeding.This is why the Lord gave such counsel, to be focused at all times.
The counsel is also a reminder. God is in charge. It is his mission which we are called to share in. Thus, he will sustain and bring it to completion. —CONTRIBUTED INQ
