WORD FOR MISSION
Missionary reflection  on Sunday Liturgy

AUTHORITY FOR the SERVICE

of the Mission and of Unity

XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year “A” - Sunday 21.08.2005

Isaiah  22:19-23

Psalm 137

Romans  11:33-36

Matthew  16:13-20

Reflections

Who is Jesus? What is his true identity? What do the people think about him? These are questions that pounce upon us from the past, and are still real today. The central affirmation this Sunday is very much the reply of Simon Peter (Gospel), in his name and that of the others, regarding the identity of Jesus: "You are the Christ, the son of the living God"  (v.16). It is the conclusion of the opinion poll that Jesus took with his disciples, asking them what the people thought about him first of all, then asking them for their own answer. The opinions of the people place Jesus among the great prophets of Israel, so they are not too wide of the mark, though basing their opinion on the spectacular acts of Jesus. Peter's reply goes much further than human perception (of flesh and blood), because it is the fruit of a revelation that comes from the Father (v.17). So Jesus, in this climate of openness, reveals to Peter and the other disciples his project for a new community: his Church, which will last into the ages (v.18).

Despite the historical problems and the objections advanced against the text of Matthew, the plan of Jesus regarding his Church is ongoing today, on the lines of the traditional Catholic interpretation of the three metaphors: the rock (v.18), the keys (v.19) and the bipolar binding-loosening (v.19); all this is completed in the conferring, after the Resurrection, of the service of loving shepherd of the people of the new Alliance (cf. Jn.21:5s). Just any authority is not good enough for the people, as is shown in the removal of Shebna, the scheming official in the royal palace (1st Reading), because the Lord wants "a father for the inhabitants of Jerusalem (v.21). According to Jesus, who is "Lord and Teacher" (Jn.13:14), who did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life (Mt.20:28), authority (the keys) is given to Peter and to the Church for a service to the people of God, in a 'diakonia' without end. For the life of the world and for the unity of the human family! The wider the spread of the authority, the more intensive must be the love and the more extensive the service. *

The Council gives us the theological and missionary dimensions of this project. “At all times and in every race God has given welcome to whosoever fears Him and does what is right. (Acts 10,35). God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people” (cf. LG 9). Indeed, "the pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature" (AG 2). Because she exists to evangelise (EN 14). So it is significant  that Jesus talks about this project of his while in pagan territory (the region of Caesarea Philippi, v.13), in a geographical context similar to that of the Canaanite woman of last Sunday. Each of these facts narrated by Matthew reveal the universal character of the mission of Christ and of the Church.

If people were canvassed today, we would get only approximative and narrow results regarding the identity of Jesus. It is well known that a large percentage of baptised Christians have drifted away from Christ, the Gospel and the Church. A 'new evangelisation' (cf. RMi 33) is needed, with teaching matter and methods like that of the ad gentes mission. In other words, First Evangelisation, so that they "become living stones for the building up of the Church".

Today's Gospel and some recent events in the Church (the Solemnity of the Assumption and the World Youth Day in Cologne, attended by Pope Benedict XVI, both in the context of the Eucharistic Year) highlight three typical elements in the identikit of a Catholic. They mark Catholics as missionary, and make them stand out in the confused religious universe of our times. They are identified to themselves, to non-Christians and to other Christian groups. These elements are: The Eucharist, Our Lady and the Pope. They are three loves we can never deny, and they fill with joy the life and the mission of every Catholic in the world.

The Pope’s Words

*  “Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel encouraged to strive for the full unity for which Christ expressed so ardent a hope in the Upper Room. The Successor of Peter knows that he must make himself especially responsible for his Divine Master's supreme aspiration. Indeed, he is entrusted with the task of strengthening his brethren (cf. Lk 22:32). With full awareness, therefore, at the beginning of his ministry in the Church of Rome which Peter bathed in his blood, Peter's current Successor takes on as his primary task the duty to work tirelessly to rebuild the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers. This is his ambition, his impelling duty”.

Benedict XVI

First message in the Sistine Chapel, 20 April 2005

In the steps of Missionaries

- 21/8: Bl. Victoria Rasoamanarivo (Madagascar, 1848-1894),  married, then widowed, she was an active Catholic who dedicated herself to the spiritual care of fellow-Catholics and to the public defence of the Church following the expulsion of missionaries.

- 22/8: Memoria of the B.V. Mary, Queen and Mother of the Prince of peace, whose Reign is without end.

- 23/8: St. Rose of Lima (Peru, 1586-1617). She was a Dominican Tertiary, and gave her life to prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners, and for the salvation of the Indios of her country and of the Eastern peoples.

- 24/8: St Bartholomew, Apostle, evangeliser and martyr in India.

- 24/8: St. Emilie of Vialar (France, 1797-1856), an ardent missionary of the Good News in far-off lands. She founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition.

- 24/8: Bl. Maria Incarnacion Rosal (1820-1886), born in Guatemala, a foundress in several countries of Latin America. She died while working on a foundation in Tulcán, Ecuador.

- 25/8: St. Joseph of Calasanz (1558-1648), a Spanish priest who opened the first free schools for poor children in Rome (known as the Scuole Pie) and founded an Institute to carry out his aims (hence the name Scolopi).

- 26/8: St. Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars (1843-1897), a Spanish nun who founded the Little Sisters for Abandoned Old People.

- 26/8: Bl. Lorenza (Leucadia) Harasymiv (1911-1952), a Ukrainian nun. She was arrested for her faith, and died a martyr in the concentration camp of Kharsk, near Tomsk (Russia

n Siberia).

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Editor: Fr. Romeo Ballan, mcci – Former Director of CIAM, Rome

Website:   www.ciam.org “The Word for Mission”