October 19 2020 - St. isaac Jogues & Martyred Companions - The Missionary Spirit

 Since 1926, the third Sunday of October, yesterday, has been set aside for the Catholic Church around the world to renew its commitment to missionary work.  So yesterday, was World Mission Sunday. 

For many decades, men and women from this country would answer the call to bring the Gospel to Africa, Asia, South and Central America, the Middle East.  Now, many priests and religious from those countries, come here, yes, to minister to immigrants from their native land, but also to do some of the hard work of evangelization that American Catholics are sometimes unwilling to do.

It takes great courage, great conviction for the Gospel to leave one’s native land, and a great openness and trust in the Lord.  No doubt we need to do a much better job cultivating that missionary spirit, especially among our young people.  

We celebrate today saints who left the comfort of their native land to bring the Gospel to North America.  Saint Isaac Jogues, Saint John de Brebeuf, and their Jesuit companions came from France in the mid 1600s,  and preached the Gospel in the Northern U.S. and southern Canada, primarily Quebec.  Even before setting sail for these shores, they readied themselves for hardship, peril, and the likelihood of martyrdom. 

Imagine the courage it takes, the conviction for the Gospel, to leave your home, knowing that you would likely die for the message you carried.  Conviction for the Gospel—“to make disciples of all nations”, as we read in the Gospels, must have burned in their breasts. The love of Jesus Christ and for the desire for the salvation of souls must have animated them in ways we cannot fathom.

Listen to these words from the spiritual diary of St. John de Brebeuf, to get a sense of this man’s conviction: “Jesus, my Lord and savior, what can I give you in return for all the favors you have first conferred on me? I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name…I bind myself in this way so that for the rest of my life I will have neither permission nor freedom to refuse opportunities of dying and shedding my blood for you, unless at a particular juncture I should consider it more suitable for your glory to act otherwise at that time. Further, I bind myself to this so that, on receiving the blow of death, I shall accept it from your hands with the fullest delight and joy of spirit.”

Imagine the sort of prayer life that brings a man such tremendous freedom, to give his life away for Jesus.  May each of us be filled with similar conviction for the Gospel, in bringing Christ to souls and souls to Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the success of the Chrch’s missionary activity: for the conversion of unbelievers, the indifferent, the lapsed, and the hardened sinner. Let us pray to the Lord.

That our young people may take seriously the call to holiness, and turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For the transformation of all attitudes which lead to war, violence, racial hatred, and religious persecution.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering. 

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for the repose of the souls of all those who made our reception of the faith possible. 

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.