In the midst of Respect Life Month we recognize the many ways that are available to us to support God’s precious gift of creation. This Sunday many of us will participate in the Cropwalk. This activity is significant because it focuses our attention on the fact that many of our brothers and sisters lack the sustenance necessary for a healthy existence. It is hard to believe that in our great country, indeed in our beloved Dutchess County so many individuals and families are hungry on a daily basis. World Church Service, which receives the funds collected insures that at least 25% of the amount remains local. One of the major recipients is Dutchess Outreach. As I am sure most of you know, this program has been a constant source of support to many in need. As in the case of the Pleasant Valley Food Pantry, many of our fellow parishioners volunteer there. This activity, sponsored in part by the Dutchess County Interfaith Council, also reveals another reality in our present day society. In my youth I recall many efforts by various religious organizations to care for the poor. It was inconceivable that churches, mosques, synagogues would work together. One of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council is the encouragement of all men of goodwill of various faith traditions to work together for the betterment of society. It is a blessing to live in a time when we can honor the Father of us all by praying and working as one. So many of the contemporary problems we face require collaboration. If we have any hope to bring peace and justice to the earth it must be as people who accept that despite diversity a unity of purpose can be established when humanity is threatened.
Additionally, our Holy Father calls upon our church community in this special month to celebrate Mission Sunday. He writes: “On this Sunday…I think first of all to you, my brothers in the Episcopal and the priestly ministry, and then to you, my brothers and sisters, the whole People of God, to encourage in each one of you a deeper awareness of Christ’s missionary mandate to ‘make disciples of all peoples’ (Mt. 28:19), in the footsteps of Saint Paul, the Apostle of the nations”. Though we might think of those courageous men and women who left our shores for foreign lands when we hear the word “ mission”, we must realize that it is the vocation of all the baptized to evangelize the world. The Supreme Pontiff encourages us: “The goal of the church’s mission is to illumine all peoples with the light of the Gospel as they journey through history towards God, so that in Him they may reach their full potential and fulfillment. We should have a longing and a passion to illumine all peoples with the light of Christ that shines on the face of the church, so that all may be gathered into the one human family, under God’s loving fatherhood.” It is in this perspective that the disciples of Christ spread throughout the world work, struggle and groan under the burden of suffering, offering their very lives. I strongly reiterate what was so frequently affirmed by my venerable predecessors: the Church works not to extend her power or assert her dominion, but to lead all people to Christ, the salvation of the world. We seek only to place ourselves at the service of all humanity, especially the suffering and the excluded, because we believe that ‘the effort to proclaim the Gospel to the people of today…is a service rendered to the Christian community and also to the whole of humanity’ (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 1) which ‘has experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself’ (Redemptoris Missio, 2).
These words recall Benedict XVI’s concern about the overarching secularity of the modern age and the tyranny of relativism. He goes on to echo the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which affirms that the Divine has placed in man an opposing spirit to these trends: “In truth, the whole of humanity has the radical vocation to return to its source, to return to God, since in Him alone can find fulfillment through the restoration of all things in Christ. Dispersion, multiplicity, conflict and enmity will be healed and reconciled through the blood of the Cross and led back to unity.” (1) For one the foreign missionary has the task of assisting his hearers to recognize the presence of the Divine will in their lives and culture. They have done this for centuries not only in their sacramental activities but in their social outreach. Their success can be measured not only in the educational and medical institutions they founded and now being administered by a native population but also by the number of religious vocations now serving in the First and Second worlds. I would not want to contemplate the pastoral situation of the Archdiocese of New York without the priestly presence of the international clergy. As a teenager I worked with the Maryknoll Community. It was an unbelievable experience to meet men who were imprisoned in China after the Communist takeover. Many of them endured various tortures and yet they maintained their desire to one day return to the people to which God had sent them with the martyred Bishop Francis X. Ford. When I was a young priest in Sacred Heart I met Father Raymond Kelly. At that time Ray had served a couple of decades in Taiwan. After his time with us he returned to his parish. He is still there considering himself more at home there than his native Boston.
In remembering and praying for our missionaries, we must not forget those who serve in our own country. The members of the Glenmary Community have brought the Good News to areas of the South where Catholic priests were largely unknown. They went to the poorest areas of the South and have for years developed small parish communities. Areas of the Southwest and the Great Plains have been recipients of the ministries of not only priests but many brothers and sisters. The Native American population has benefited from the educational, social, and medical expertise of these men and women.
As each of you contribute your financial resources for the missionary efforts of the church, please be aware of the need to pray for those who still go forth and face the challenge of the Gospel to preach to all peoples. We cannot forget as well that as we go forth we must witness to our friends, neighbors, and strangers the truth who is Jesus Christ.
May we be as faithful to the Lord who has been faithful to us.
Vivat Jesus,
Fr. Brian
