A WORD FOR TODAY 20 OCTOBER 2019

A WORD FOR TODAY

BAPTISED AND SENT: OUR MISSION IS TO PROCLAIM CHRIST.

Today is 29th Sunday in the Ordinary Time, Year C and it is also designated as the World Mission Sunday, a time when the Universal Church has set aside to remind ourselves once again that we are missionaries and we have this mandate from Christ to go out and proclaim the Good News, then we also try to raise funds to support the Holy Father in His missionary and evangelization activities all over the world.

This year is the 93rd edition and it is special because the Holy Father declared this month of October an extraordinary Missionary Month with the (theme: Baptised and Sent: The Church of Christ on mission in the world). This is to commemorate the centenary of the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud of his predecessor Pope Benedict XV given on November 30th 1919. The essence of this celebration is to re-awaken in each one of us the desire to go out to proclaim Christ in order to save souls and to make them to come to know Him.

According to the Holy Father in His message for this year's world mission Sunday, He says, "The Church needs men and women who, by virtue of their baptism, respond generously to the call to leave behind, home, family, country, language and local Church, and to be sent forth to the nations, to a world not yet transformed by the sacraments of Jesus Christ and his holy Church" This therefore, reminds us that we have been called and chosen to be missionaries for Christ by virtue of our baptism and as such we have no excuse not to let God make use of us for this purpose.

In the first reading of today from the Prophet Zechariah talks about how many people will come to follow an individual because they have heard that God is with him. This simply means that if we are doing God's will we will be able to attract others through our words and actions to come to follow Him also.

Saint Paul in the second reading from his letter to the Romans reminds us that faith comes by hearing the word of God, however, the word of God cannot preach itself, but by those who have been sent to proclaim it. If we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. There is need for us to continue to proclaim Christ everywhere so that those who have not known Him will come to believe in Him. We may not directly go on mission, but indirectly we can go on mission by always supportung missionaries and the work of missions through our generous contributions.

The gospel reading from the book of Mark focuses on the mandate given to the disciples by Jesus to go out and proclaim the gospel to all creation. He gave them authority to proclaim in His name and also told them the miraculous signs that will accompany their preaching. The fact remains that they did not send themselves, but were sent by Jesus and He gave them the power and authority to proclaim in His name. This mandate applies to us also and we must be ready to keep proclaiming His name in words and deeds until He returns to take us back to Himself.

Proclaiming Christ must go with total commitment and perseverance from the one who has been chosen to do so. Just as the widow in the gospel reading of this 29th Sunday in the ordinary time did not allow the judge to rest until he granted her wish, showing us an example of persistence or perseverance in prayers, so are we to continue to proclaim Christ everywhere until we win all the souls back to Him. We must not rest on our oars, but everyday strive to reach out in words and deeds to those who are yet to know Christ and bring them into the fold.

We have no other mission here on earth than to proclaim Jesus who came and died for the salvation of all. It is part of our identity as Christians to be missionaries. We must proclaim His love to all men and by encountering God's love through us they will come to believe in Him and will be saved. We are on a mission and we are God's mission, we must stay focused and keep working for God. Try and find out the mission God has assigned to you in this life and then let Him make use of you to bring His Good News to all the people especially those who are yet to know Him.

Good morning dearest one. Smile😊as you begin your day and do have a magnificent Sunday. May God's grace abide in your heart as you proclaim Christ in words and deeds. Amen. And may the Almighty God bless you: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Meditation: Zechariah 8:20-23/Psalm 19:2-5/Romans 10:9-18/Mark 16:15-20 or Exodus 17:8-13/Psalm 121:1-8/2 Timothy 3:14-4:2/Luke 18:1-8

Watch-Word: Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.

Anytime spent to proclaim Jesus is gained not wasted, preach, but most times let your deeds do the talking.

(29th Sunday in the Ordinary Time, Year C. Mission Sunday 20/10/19)