Mission Sunday - Iowa, Honduras, Bolivia, the Amazon, and the world

Today is Mission Sunday in the Extraordinary Month of Mission that Pope Francis called for to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Maximum Illud, an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XV on the missions.

Today is also the end of the week of mission in the deanery of Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras. About fifty members of the parish of Dulce Nombre de María went on mission to the parish of Corquín, Copán, more than an hour away from Dulce Nombre. They spent the week – without money and without cellphone – visiting homes in scattered villages throughout that parish.

Missionaries of the Dulce Nombre parish

I had a less gruelling mission – visiting our sister parish, Saint Thomas Aquinas, in Ames, Iowa, and a visit to the Iowa City Catholic Worker.

At Thursday Night Liturgy at St. Thomas Aquinas, Ames

We prepared our missionaries with four sessions. At one of them, our pastor had asked me to share some thoughts on the letter of Pope Benedict XV.

The letter does respond to the situation of the early twentieth century, but there were several points that clearly redirected the sense of mission. One that I particularly appreciated the call to separate missionary activity from nationalism of any sort.

Part of the problem of missionaries has often been that they have come with the invaders – Franciscans and others came to the Americas with the conquistadors. I wonder if sometimes the native peoples identified them with the mother country and not with our real mother country – the Reign of God. A few like the Dominican priest and bishop, Bartolomé de las Casas, were exceptions.

But Pope Benedict XV advised missionaries to avoid nationalism. He noted that

“…such a situation could easily give rise to the conviction that the Christian religion is the national religion of some foreign people and that anyone converted to it is abandoning his loyalty to his own people and submitting to the pretensions and domination of a foreign power.”

And so, “it is not our vocation to expand the frontiers of human empires, but those of Christ, nor to add any citizens to countries here below but to our fatherland above.“

Pope Benedict XV goes on to characterize the missionary as humble, obedient, chaste, and a person of prayer. Meeting the unbeliever,

“...his bearing toward them is neither scornful nor fastidious; his treatment of them is neither harsh nor rough. Instead, he makes use of all the arts of Christian kindness to attract them to himself, so that he may eventually lead them into the arms of Christ, into the embrace of the Good Shepherd.”

In my meeting with our parish missionaries, I noted how they were going to different places not to impose our way of being a parish but to help open spaces for God to work.

As I look at the Synod of the Amazon, I see a part of the Church struggling to be a Church in place, not a church which is tied to any foreign nation or culture. I believe that some of the opposition comes from trying to hold onto a European/North American cultural expression of the faith – without noting that the Church in those places took much from the local culture in the early centuries of the Church.

What is important is to be open to the presence of Christ Jesus who was born into a particular culture and political situation but who transcends these. Christ and his message can find echoes and reception in many cultures. We should live in hope – and not in fear.

This afternoon, I had a few hours between Mass and dinner with some friends and so decided to spend time at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Student Center, here in Ames. I decided to visit the room dedicated to the Dulce Nombre de María parish, acknowledging our sister relationship, and also the room dedicated to “Cigar Box Ray.”

I entered the room and immediately saw the display in honor of Father Ray Herman, a graduate of Iowa State University, a priest of the Dubuque archdiocese, and a missionary to Bolivia. Reading one plaque I realized that today is the anniversary of his martyrdom in Morochata, near Cochabamba, Bolivia.

I wrote about him a few years ago here. He lived among the poor, responded to their needs, and died after getting a hospital built. And he did it with great austerity. His body was brought back to be buried in Iowa. His personal belongs fit into a cigar box.

I am far from that but he and many other missionaries, such as Blessed Stanley Rother and Blessed Tulio Marruzo, ofm, inspire me and encourage me to deepen my commitment to mission.

And so, today is a special mission Sunday for me, a time to recommit myself to the mission we all have as missionary disciples. For, as Pope Francis wrote in The Joy of the Gospel/Evangelii Gaudium (120):

"In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19)."

Evangelizing: loving and listening

Notes for my homily November 4-5, 2017, Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Tome, Cycle A

Malachi 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10

1 Thessalonians 2:7b-9, 13

Matthew 23: 1-12

Clare washing the feet of her sisters

How often have we heard complaints against the church? We may have even made some ourselves. Some church leaders react very defensively, even if the complaints have some merits. I wonder how they would react if they took today’s readings seriously.

The readings, especially from Malachi and Matthew, are pointed critiques of religious leaders. Malachi castigates the priests for not promoting the glory of God and for being partial in their judgments. Aren’t we all equal before God, he notes, with the same Father?

Jesus condemns the religious leaders of his day for their heavy-handedness and their seeking power and prestige. They say one thing but do the opposite. In addition, they like to be called teachers and masters. Don’t be like them, he urges. Don’t call them masters; you are not their slaves; we are all brothers and sisters.

Paul, however, gives us an image of a true religious leader. “We were gentle among you, as a nursing woman broods over her children.”

 “With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well.” We religious leaders must be willing to give of ourselves, even giving up our lives.

To be great we must, as Jesus notes, “be the servant.”

But these admonitions are not just for religious leaders; they are for all of us. Pope Francis insists that all of us, by our baptism, are “missionary-disciples.” We are evangelizers, each in our own way – some as ordained ministers, others exercising other ministries in the church. But all of us in our daily lives are all called to be signs of the Good News of Jesus in the world.

I have seen this in the parish I serve in Honduras of Dulce Nombre de María, the Sweet Name of Mary, your sister parish in Honduras.

There is Marco Tulio, an extraordinary minister of Communion, who takes the Eucharist each week to a village for a Holy Hour, walks an hour each way, no matter the weather or hour.

There are the youth groups and others that regularly visit the sick in their communities and bring food to poor families. One catechist told me how the catechists have taken the young children to visit the sick – about 40 kids between 4 and 7. Both the sick and the children profit by this work of mercy.

Since October of 2016 our parish has sent missionaries out to the villages of the parish. These are not professional missionaries but members of the parish. They go out, two by two, to villages other than their own, without cell-phone, without money, dependent on the people they visit. They are missionaries of mercy, helping us discover the presence of the God of mercy in our lives, our families, our villages. They are more missionaries in the Gospel sense than I have been.

They do not preach. They are called to listen, to be the “ears of God,” as they visit homes in a village, especially the homes of the poorest, the ill, and the aged. They are servants of mercy, not teachers of doctrine.

We are beginning to see the fruits of these missionaries. The life of faith has been renewed in some villages.

But my favorite story comes from Plan Grande, where I live. During Holy Week the two women missionaries visited a couple who wanted to get married in the church. The couple was prepared and they were married outside their home in the company of many people who brought tamales and other food for the celebration, together with the couple’s children and grandchildren. They are both in their eighties and wanted to be right with God before they die.

Evangelizing is not standing on a street-corner haranguing people, though a public witness that shows the mercy of the God of justice has its place. Much evangelizing takes place merely by being there, accompanying people in times of sorrow and in times of celebration. We evangelize by who we are – children of a loving God.·

This evangelization offers the encouragement of a Christian hope – evangelizing not as masters or know-it-alls, but as nursing mothers serving others with love and tenderness.

In many ways, by your solidarity with our parish, Dulce Nombre de María, you are evangelizing.

As our pastor, Padre German writes in a letter to you, “thank you for your solidarity; with your generous help we are a parish which promotes the mission of evangelization and of charity with those most in need. You are Good News and from a humble silence you make present the Reign of God in our midst. And more: the manner you have of sharing and serving arouse in many of our parishioners the desire to give themselves. The tenderness of God is flourishing, as from their poverty they give part of their lives to assist the sick, the elderly, and the widows. Thank you, sisters and brothers, for evangelizing us through your charity.”

“You are missionaries,” Padre German continues. Noting my presence in the parish as deacon. “St. Thomas as a parish gets out to the farthest crossroads of the parish. There [our parish] is embraced and animated by the face of God; it is supported with the healing and liberating embrace of mercy; there the tears of those who are mourning are wiped away, helping them to contemplate the heaven of the resurrection in their passage as pilgrims from death to life, from violence to the ways of peace, from the walls of squalor and egoism to the bridge of fraternity where we celebrate together and share the table, with the tablecloth of solidarity and the providence of God. You are here with us, singing in our choirs, going with our missionaries of mercy, with our catechists and the children who share with us their desire to grow. Thanks for your part in our family.”

St. Thomas has helped subsidizing the costs of our parish where formation of volunteer pastoral workers is central to our evangelization. You have helped also with our Solidarity Fund which subsidizes the costs of serious medical and other needs. Buying El Zapote coffee helps an association of small coffee farmers. And in other ways you have been helping the Church be a servant of the poor. There is much more, but Fr. Jon wants me to limit this homily to ten minutes.

Our pastor, Padre German, welcomes your accompaniment of our parish of Dulce Nombre de María. Indeed, in his letter, he wants you to know you are welcome to come visit. You can count on a heartfelt welcome, “receiving, from the hands of the people, hot tortillas, refried beans, and the fraternal coffee of sharing and celebration…. Let us continue walking together, evangelizing, passing through the mire of pain, sorrow, and darkness, leaving on every face the divine spark which brings new life…. God counts on you and us.”*

In all this, we continue to pray for you and we ask you to continue to pray for us.

We continue to move forward in our mission of being servants of God’s people, not lording it over others, not laying heavy burdens on them, not failing to serve them because they are impoverished and without power.

All of us are called to be servant-missionaries, servant disciples, wherever we are. We are called to give of ourselves to others, especially those most in need – in whatever way we can. We are called to live as sisters and brothers in Christ.

Let this be our way of serving God, of being Good News, of evangelizing – here in Ames and with us in Honduras.

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· We evangelize by being holy. But, as Thomas Merton wrote, “the saint preaches sermons by the way he walks and talks, by the way [she] picks up things and holds them in [her] hands.

* “The parish, from its commitment and hope, awaits us.  We can count on the shelter of friendship, with hearts beating in many homes with a rhythm in harmony with the heartbeat of our Creator; we can count on the hands of the worker who offer you hot tortillas and ground beans as well as the fraternal coffee of sharing and celebration…. Let us continue walking together, evangelizing, passing through the mire of pain, sorrow, and darkness, leaving on every face the divine spark which regenerates – which God alone can do. God counts on you and us.”