[stephenkhoo]

07 July 2013, 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time
URGENCY AND DETACHMENT MARK THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 66:10-14; GAL 6:14-18; LK 10:1-12.17-20 (OR >< 10:1-9)

This Sunday’s scripture readings point to the theme of mission. When we speak of the mission of the Church, the fundamental point of departure is that the originator of this mission is not the disciples and therefore not the Church. It is God Himself who is the originator of the mission of the Church. It is the Father who sent Jesus, and it was Jesus who sent His disciples to proclaim the Good News in the power of the Holy Spirit.

For this reason, the mission is not an ideology which one tries to promote, nor is it an ambition or a project of some priests and bishops. Nay, it is primarily God’s initiative, so whether the mission is successful or not, is ultimately the work of God, and the work of grace, even when He asks us to cooperate with Him. It is He who calls us and uses us for the mission that He began in Christ.

That is why we have the calling and sending out of the seventy-two. Obviously, even the seventy-two missionaries would not be sufficient to proclaim the gospel to the whole world. Accordingly, Jesus instructed His disciples to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.” We are called to pray for the mission and for Him to send the missionaries. It is also significant that Jesus never spoke so much of a vocation campaign, or the need to drum up some publicity, but instead asked the disciples to pray. Indeed, there is nothing more effective than to invite people to pray for vocations. Vocation and mission therefore is the response of God to our prayer and the prayer of the Church.

But what is important to us is how this mission should be carried out. Two features characterize this mission, namely, urgency and detachment. Regardless of the specific mission or role we play in the Church, these two characteristics must mark the mission of every Christian.

Why is the mission urgent? This urgency springs from the fact that God loves us all and wants all to be saved. This mission is still as urgent as it was 2000 years ago, for as the late Pope John Paul II told us at the beginning of the new millennium in his apostolic letter Novo Millennio Inenunte, we need to evangelize the world and re-evangelize our Catholics who have not yet encountered Jesus the Risen Lord personally. This exhortation is continued by our present pope, Benedict XIV as well.

The urgency of the mission is expressed by Jesus who told His disciples, “Start off now!” In other words, “don’t wait any longer. Don’t delay or procrastinate.” As if this is not clear enough, He elaborated further, “Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals.” Why? Because such things are cumbersome and could slow them down. They must travel light so that they can travel quickly. Furthermore, He said, “Salute no one on the road.” In other words, don’t waste time gossiping and talking about non-essential things. Be focused on your mission and do not spend time idling away, exchanging conversations that cannot change people’s lives.

This urgency of the mission is further reiterated when Jesus instructed the disciples to remain in the same house, “taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.” Again, this is because changing houses and being selective about food and drink will involve delay, adjustment and unnecessary waste of time. In the same vein, when Jesus told them that if they were not welcome, then they should wipe off the very dust of that town that clings to their feet, and leave it with them.

Because the mission is so urgent, the corollary of urgency means also the practice of detachment. The call to detachment is not the end itself but a means to the end, which is the proclamation of the kingdom. Detachment is necessary in the mission because we cannot allow anything to obstruct us in the mission, be it material things, personal attachment, whether to friends, loved ones, relatives or worse still, our ambition, pride, ego and self-centered desires. From this perspective, we can appreciate better the evangelical counsels of poverty, celibacy and obedience. These evangelical vows are not meant to burden us. On the contrary, they are meant to free us for the service of the kingdom.

For in our poverty, we will ensure that we depend only on God and not on ourselves. So long as we rely on ourselves more than on the power of God, His glory cannot be seen. As St Paul tells us, it is only when we are weak, then we are strong. It is in this context that we can understand why St Paul reprimanded the Galatians for still relying on the laws, since fulfilling the laws only made them proud and deny that grace, mercy and peace could only come from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Celibacy and chastity help us to be fully devoted to the Lord and not to ourselves or any earthly creatures. It is our total and undivided love for the Lord that will empower us to do all that we can and sacrifice everything for His kingdom. Detachment from people and attachment to our Master is necessary for this mission.

Obedience too helps us in the mission lest we become too proud. There is always a danger that we may allow our ego to get the better of us. Instead of putting the love of Christ, His Church and her mission first in our lives, we become more concerned with glory, power and success. Instead of doing His will, we seek to do our own will, believing it sincerely to be the will of God, or even knowingly pursuing something that is clearly not for God. This explains why when the disciples returned, rejoicing in the newfound power they had over the evil spirits simply by invocating the name of Jesus, our Lord put them in place by telling them, “do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.”

Perhaps, the most important detachment is detachment from success in the ministry. Quite often, we concern ourselves with seeking popularity in the ministry. Some of us work very hard in order to establish our place and name in the Church. Yet, we must remember that the mission and the success of the mission belong to God, not us. God sometimes would even allow us to fail in our mission. St Paul is clear on this matter when he declared, “The only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”

But how can one live in this manner and conduct oneself as instructed by Jesus? It presupposes that we have experienced the kingdom of God already in our own lives. And because this kingdom of God’s unconditional love and mercy is already experienced by us who believe, we can now understand that our sense of urgency in the mission is prompted by this.

This accounts for why Jesus, after reminding the disciples of the urgency of the mission, ended by saying, “You be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near.” Indeed, because the kingdom of God is so near, that is, it is already here, that we cannot lose any more time in proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore
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