Word to the Wise
Friday, November 5, 2021 - Friday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 15:14-21 and Luke 16:1-8]Thus I aspire to proclaim the Gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another's foundation, but as it is written: Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand. [Romans]
I recently received an internet photo of a sign in a church parking lot that was pointed toward the lot as one leaves: WARNING! YOU ARE ENTERING MISSION TERRITORY!!! We are coming to the end of the readings from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans. This community was one he had not visited when he wrote the letter. He would eventually get there to be martyred by invoking his Roman citizenship! The passage for today reveals his missionary zeal to go where the gospel had not been preached before! The sign in the church parking lot is meant to be both ironic and challenging.
Pope Francis has challenged all the baptized to be "missionary disciples!" The scope of the challenge is the whole world! (Matt. 28:19). The idea in some American Catholic heads is that missionaries go off to the jungle in a far away land. That missionary territory might be next door just doesn't occur to them. Although "Christianity" may be seen as a majority religious factor in American culture, it has been domesticated to become simply one thing among many. (cf, Charles Taylor's A SECULAR AGE or Robert Bellah's HABITS OF THE HEART).
I admire the Catholic college students who give two years or more of their life to preach the gospel on campuses around the country in such programs as FOCUS or ST. PAUL OUTREACH. (They remind me of the young Mormon missionaries I have encountered from time to time, fulfilling a REQUIREMENT of their faith.) But the church needs this kind of dedication at all age levels. G. K. Chesterton's well-known statement about Christianity not having been really tried comes to mind. But we may need to realize that part of the problem is ineffective preaching! St. Paul can be a model for us all! AMEN