Today our nation celebrates Columbus Day, remembering when Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas on October 12, 1492.
For Columbus, his voyage of discovery was a work of evangelization. On board his ships were Catholic missionaries; his first act upon landing in the New World was to plant the cross, claim the new lands for Christ and His Church.
Missionary priests then offered mass. In fact, upon first sighting land, he and his crew prayed together the Hail Holy Queen.
Columbus is celebrated as a national hero and also an example for Christians because he plunged willingly into the unknown in order to spread the saving faith. He willingly endured the violent storms of the Atlantic, as St. Paul and the Apostles did, braving great dangers in fidelity to Christ’s great commission, to spread salvation to the ends of the earth.
Columbus used his Italian genius, his excitement and energy, to bravely venture into the unknown to fulfill the will of God. We challenged to ask ourselves if we are doing the same: not to be lukewarm about our faith, or treat the spread of the Gospel as someone else’s job. God wants to use all of us as his instruments to spread the kingdom of his goodness, love, and truth. All Christians need to be willing to go beyond our comfort zones, go into the unknown to share God’s goodness. Just like in the Gospel today…the good Samaritan reached out to someone he didn’t know, someone who likely had no way of paying him back. When we are very young, our parents tell us not to talk to strangers, but as we grow up, and grow mature in the faith, I think today’s Gospel challenges us to reach out more and more to the stranger, the foreigner, the weirdo, the neglected, to befriend them, to go into the unknown to be instruments of God.
Christopher Columbus is celebrated not simply because of his great navigational accomplishment. He is celebrated for his Catholic faith, an act flowing from what he believed to be the purpose of life, the purpose of all life, to make God known, to make God’s mercy known through Jesus Christ.
On what fantastic voyage of discovery, faith, and evangelization does God wish to lead you? Pray every day, that you may love the Lord enough, to be open to the voice of God enough, to be willing to go where God wishes to send you, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
For Columbus, his voyage of discovery was a work of evangelization. On board his ships were Catholic missionaries; his first act upon landing in the New World was to plant the cross, claim the new lands for Christ and His Church.
Missionary priests then offered mass. In fact, upon first sighting land, he and his crew prayed together the Hail Holy Queen.
Columbus is celebrated as a national hero and also an example for Christians because he plunged willingly into the unknown in order to spread the saving faith. He willingly endured the violent storms of the Atlantic, as St. Paul and the Apostles did, braving great dangers in fidelity to Christ’s great commission, to spread salvation to the ends of the earth.
Columbus used his Italian genius, his excitement and energy, to bravely venture into the unknown to fulfill the will of God. We challenged to ask ourselves if we are doing the same: not to be lukewarm about our faith, or treat the spread of the Gospel as someone else’s job. God wants to use all of us as his instruments to spread the kingdom of his goodness, love, and truth. All Christians need to be willing to go beyond our comfort zones, go into the unknown to share God’s goodness. Just like in the Gospel today…the good Samaritan reached out to someone he didn’t know, someone who likely had no way of paying him back. When we are very young, our parents tell us not to talk to strangers, but as we grow up, and grow mature in the faith, I think today’s Gospel challenges us to reach out more and more to the stranger, the foreigner, the weirdo, the neglected, to befriend them, to go into the unknown to be instruments of God.
Christopher Columbus is celebrated not simply because of his great navigational accomplishment. He is celebrated for his Catholic faith, an act flowing from what he believed to be the purpose of life, the purpose of all life, to make God known, to make God’s mercy known through Jesus Christ.
On what fantastic voyage of discovery, faith, and evangelization does God wish to lead you? Pray every day, that you may love the Lord enough, to be open to the voice of God enough, to be willing to go where God wishes to send you, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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