As Christians we are charged with bringing light, healing and blessing.
Our theme of ‘Mission’ is far richer than the beautifully framed mission statements one sees on the walls or front desks of corporate institutions. Indeed, Pope Francis in his encyclical Evangelii Gaudium – ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ – uses the term to define our identity as Christians. ‘I am a Mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world . . . this mission of:
• bringing light
• blessing
• enlivening
• raising up
• healing
• and freeing.’
- Evangelii Gaudium, para 273
MISSIONARY QUALITIES
Let us try now to elaborate some of these missionary qualities outlined by Pope Francis – blessing, life-giving and healing.
The act of blessing all manner of persons and things is an ancient practice in the Christian tradition –a practice not just reserved to priests and officials. Parents and teachers are well positioned to bless those in their care – helping them to appreciate what the Irish call a ‘thin place’, where there is just the thinnest membrane separating the spiritual and material worlds.
When Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden blessed himself after making a century, he was acknowledging God’s partnership with him in achieving this feat. Blessing is about direction-finding, about recognising that God is the source of everything, that he is not just at the beginning and end of our road but in every step along the way.
What richer blessing can we offer our young people than to uncover for them life’s most important values in the journey from God to God.
In the Jewish tradition parents have always blessed their children. Indeed, every greeting was a form of blessing for the Jews. When we bless someone, we affirm them and put them in touch with their innate goodness. More importantly, we let them know that they are beloved by God, the source of all our gifts.
SOURCE OF LIFE
To bless another is to source life for them – to remind them that life is a journey from God to God. To be blessed is to be oneself a blessing, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said. Blessing another reminds them that they are a blessing, a gift to us. Sometimes we are blessed in ways we can’t imagine. Joan Chittister, with characteristic simplicity, quips: ‘Instead of getting what we want, we get what we need.’ Blessing, nonetheless, is always a sign that grace is everywhere, that life is sacred and good and full of the touch of God.
Our mission as Christians is also one of being life-givers. In historian Manning Clark’s autobiography The Quest for Grace, he writes about the difference between people who are life-straighteners and those who are life-enlargers. The former are those who have a measured, narrow view of life and want to contain it, while the enlargers are those who love the banquet of life with a passion and want to share it with others.
‘Passion is God’s fire in us’, as Canadian Oblate priest Ron Rolheiser maintains. Someone recently gave me a little book titled Football Fans in Their Own Write by David Picken. It is a showcase of football fans describing their passion for football (soccer).
Our previous Pope Francis is one of the contributors, but I was interested to read the excerpt written by the first Anglican woman Bishop Libby Lane, titled ‘Football, Faith and Manchester United’. She is the Bishop of Derby in the English Midlands, and when asked by the media what came first – faith or football – Bishop Libby answered passionately: ‘In terms of priority . . . I don’t think I have to choose. Loving my team is part of who I am, and all of me is loved by God. I love God back with everything of me including being an avid sport fan.’ Wonderful life-giving passion here.
THERAPY OF HOPE
Finally, the Christian’s mission is to offer healing – what Pope Francis termed ‘the therapy of hope’. Indeed, we are all healers when we listen carefully to another’s story. Not only that, but we become the caretakers of their story; we are privileged stewards.
As Joan Chittister has pointed out in her many reflections, listening is an act of healing. Indeed, it is an act of love – as the wisdom of eight-year-old Robbie demonstrated in writing the following for his teacher: ‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas when you stop opening your Christmas presents and listen.’
Listen for love. Isn’t that extremely wise? And isn’t that what we should do each time we come to the Eucharistic table to receive Communion? We need to listen for the love that Jesus shows each one of us when he gives us himself in that wonderful event. We focus on listening for love, knowing that Jesus holds us together every time we receive him at Communion.
In conclusion, Pope Leo’s recent talk to the youth of his hometown of Chicago captures this sense of common mission when challenging them to be ‘beacons of hope’: ‘The world looks to you as you look around yourselves and say: “We need you, we need you to come together to share with us in this common mission, as Church and in society, of announcing a message of true hope and of promoting peace, promoting harmony, among all peoples”.’
Authentic mission is both giving and receiving hope.
