Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time (January 20, 2018): The Craziness of the Mission

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 3:20-21)

Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat.  When his relatives heard of this they set out to sieze him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Good News Reflection:

Introductory Prayer: I believe in your presence in my life, the Church, the Scriptures, others, and in a special way, the Eucharist. I trust that in this Sacrament you will feed and enlighten my mission. I love you Lord for leaving this sign and living expression of your love. Help me to believe in the mission you share and keep calling me to from the depths of your tabernacle. May my love help me live the radical cost of your mission.

Petition: Inspire my mission, Lord!

1. He Came Home. After weeks of hard work, traveling, preaching, challenging the narrow minds of the Pharisees, and wading through huge crowds to touch them with healing, Jesus and his helpers return home. Yet rest and relaxation is not what they find. His work has not ended. Why should this not surprise us? First, it would seem that he has actually “left home.” He has nowhere now to lay his head. His mission is his priority in life. When a father or mother returns home from a long, tiring day of work, should they expect to rest and be served by their family? We find a kind of refuge at home, but rest does not come first if we have a mission. Which mission is more important, the efforts made at work or those at home to build up each member and the entire family with love? Do I undermine my mission by giving so much at work that nothing is left for direct investment in my prime mission?

2. Out of His Mind? Very little of the sacrifice lived out at home, at work or in the community makes sense to someone who does not believe in the mission. Today’s world, like many of Jesus’ extended family, does not believe in his mission. There are other priorities: take care of yourself, enjoy life, take it easy, live for the moment, worry only about your own family and not others, etc. The world has a very narrow horizon, the one seen by our own ego. Without faith, we can never trust that God will care for us, that we have done enough to provide for our own security, or that others need our help from the many gifts God has blessed us with. If people around me don’t find the way I live, give and love a little crazy, then maybe I am not living my mission.

3. Believing in the Mission. Christ’s mission is primarily a spiritual one, but involves saving the whole person. Nothing can compare with the goal of eternal salvation. Nor can we give too much to such an elevated cause. If I believe that God has called me to help save others-spouse, children, friends, family and even strangers-then all I do must be in some way connected to and inspired by this mission. I, like Jesus, will lose my life in order to find it. But I will need his grace.

Because Jesus believed not only in the mission, but also in me, he left me a special gift. He left me himself in the form of bread and wine, a prisoner of many tabernacles, where he would watch for me, encourage me and inspire my faith. He works through me because he can live in me, filling me with the love he won by giving his life on the cross. The Pope puts it simply: “From the perpetuation of the sacrifice of the cross and her communion with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, the Church draws the spiritual power needed to carry out her mission. The Eucharist thus appears as both the source and the summit of all evangelization, since its goal is the communion of mankind with Christ and in him with the Father and the Holy Spirit” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 22). Is the Eucharist the anchor and lighthouse of my mission?

Dialogue with Christ: I love you, Lord, for your Eucharist – this great gift of yourself – “You knew the loneliness we would feel as we followed your counsels, contrary to the ways of the world, so you came down into our lives to make our solitude fragrant and fruitful. … Our Father, our brother, the quiet corner where we take our rest when the feverishness of the day is done” (Fr Marcial Maciel , Psalter of My Days). Help me, Lord, to imitate you and live my mission with a passionate love!

Resolution: I will place and entrust each dimension of my apostolate(s) (family, witness at work, service, apostolic project) before the Lord in adoration or in a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Or, I will make “my mission” part of my daily examination of conscience.

Fr. Marcial Maciel, LC

• Vatican
• HĐGM Việt Nam
• CSsR
• DCCT
• Nhà sách Đức Mẹ
• Đức Mẹ Hằng Cứu Giúp