YOU, TOO, ARE CALLED TO BE A MISSIONARY!

 

We, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, give thanks to God for all of you in the church in Thessalonica. We remember you in our prayers, calling to mind your work of faith, 

labor of love and endurance.

First Thessalonians 1:1-5

This missionary trio, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, writes this tender note to a mission community struggling to retain hope in their weariness and discouragement and to remind them of their intimate relationship with God in Christ.

This being World Mission Sunday, I was reminded again just recently, that I had come to a conclusion about myself: "Once a missionary, always a missionary!" It made we realize that my mission activities as a young boy had actually prepared me for my many mission activities as a priest, especially in retirement.

In my first grade at St. Theresa School (1950), down in Meade County, I remember helping "adopt pagan babies." It was a popular program for Catholic school children, whereby we brought our pennies to school to "adopt" poor children in mission areas to help prepare them for baptism. The program was a bit simplistic, but well-intentioned!

In high school seminary, I made rosaries to send to "the missions." I remember making hundreds of them at St. Thomas Seminary, out on old Brownsboro Road, here in Louisville.

In the last two years of St. Meinrad College Seminary, I was a member and even an officer in an organization called the Catholic Students Mission Crusade. I even have a picture of myself in the seminary chape with my CSMC badge around my neck!

As a theology level seminarian, I considered joining the Glenmary Home Missioners - an order of priests, brothers and sisters who work in the "home missions" of the US - mainly in the south where Catholics are rare. I later decided against it, but as a newly ordained priest, I actually ended up being sent to the "home missions" of our archdiocese for my first ten years. In my life, God always seems to "get his way" in situations like those!

 As a retired priest, I decided to volunteer in the "foreign missions" of the Caribbean especially in the countries of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Trinidad. I supported a Catholic orphanage, a Catholic school, a community hospital, renovated the diocesan Pastoral Center, a couple of churches on the outer islands, renovated a retreat house and sent some youth to World Youth Day in Portugal among other things! All in all, I made 12 trips down there before the volcano erupted on St. Vincent and COVID caused me to back off in-person mission work down there.

Year before last, I got involved in the east African countries of Kenya and Tanzania through the Father John Judie Ministries, an organization started by Father John Judie, one of our local black priests, who is spending his retirement serving in east Africa. So far, with the help of a few generous people, I have raised enough money to build a new church in Kenya, to construct a new house for a single mother of a seminarian I am sponsoring, to finish a new half-built Catholic grade school and to pay off the outstanding seminary debts of 15 impoverished seminarians in Tanzania.

Pope Paul VI, who presided over the finish and implementation of Vatican II, wrote extensively about our universal call to be missionaries. Following him, Pope John Paul II explained even further that all baptized Christians are challenged to become missionaries in their everyday lives. In his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, he stressed yet again that, ‘by virtue of Baptism, all lay people are missionaries.'

Listening to Pope John Paul II does not mean, however, that everyone needs to travel to a faraway land, or stand on street corners sharing the Gospel with strangers. The Church believes that being a missionary can take multiple forms, always in accord with a person’s state in life. For example, a person can be a missionary through their marriage, showing others how a faithful, committed marriage is possible in today’s world. Another example is an elderly person confined to their home being a missionary simply by praying for missionaries around the world. 

Pope Francis, in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, said this: "All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The “new evangelization” calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus."

Yes, you can carry out your duty to be a missionary in your own way. Some personally go to foreign lands. Others support those who do go. Still others follow the news about missionaries and pray for them. Personally, I got involved because I have always seemed to have had “the heart of a missionary."  Lately, it has occurred to me that we owe it to mission countries to do what we can to help, especially in those countries who are now sending missionary priests to us because of our own priest shortage. Rather than starting my own mission organization, I decided to partner with Father John Judie Ministries, Inc. working in east Africa.

If you too want to follow my own mission work, each in your own way and even in your old age, access my blog at: fatherknott.com. Along with weekly homilies, including this one, there are many other homilies and spiritual reflections, prayers and even bits of church humor on Saturdays.  A few of my every-other-day blogposts contain informative stories and photos of what Father John Judie, my fellow Louisville priest, and I are doing these days in the missions of east Africa. 

The greatest part of doing missionary work is what it does for those of us who get involved in it, not just the people we happen to help! As the Book of Proverbs (11:24) puts it, “Those who water others will themselves be watered!” In my own case, I absolutely know for sure that that proverb is true! I have been blessed more times than I can count!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, give thanks to God for all of you in the church in Thessalonica. We remember you in our prayers, calling to mind your work of faith, labor of love and endurance.

First Thessalonians 1:1-5

This missionary trio, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, writes this tender note to a mission community struggling to retain hope in their weariness and discouragement and to remind them of their intimate relationship with God in Christ.

This being World Mission Sunday, I was reminded again that I had come to this conclusion about myself: "Once a missionary, always a missionary!" It made we realize that my mission activities as a young boy had actually prepared me for my many mission activities as a priest, even in retirement.

In my first grade at St. Theresa School (1950), down in Meade County, I remember helping "adopt pagan babies." It was a popular program for Catholic school children, whereby we brought our pennies to school to "adopt" poor children in mission areas to help prepare them for baptism. The program was a bit simplistic, but well-intentioned!

In high school seminary, I made rosaries to send to "the missions." I remember making hundreds of them at St. Thomas Seminary, out on old Brownsboro Road, here in Louisville.

In the last two years of St. Meinrad College Seminary, I was a member and even an officer in an organization called the Catholic Students Mission Crusade.

As a theology level seminarian, I considered joining the Glenmary Home Missioners an order of priests, brothers and sisters who work in the "home missions" of the US, mainly in the south where Catholics are rare. I later decided against it, but as a newly ordained priest, I actually ended up being sent to the "home missions" of our archdiocese for my first ten years. In my life, God always seems to "get his way" in situations like those!

When I was on the staff of St. Meinrad Seminary, I was exposed to both seminarians from various missionary countries and newly recruited priests from many missionary countries. I not only helped them orient to American culture, I tried to help them with their physical needs. For example, I would buy coats on sale during the summer and make them available in my office to those who came from hot climates when they arrived unprepared for our winters.  

As a retired priest, I decided to volunteer in the "foreign missions" of the Caribbean especially in the countries of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Trinidad. All in all, I made 12 trips down there before the volcano erupted on St. Vincent and COVID caused me to back off mission work down there.

Year before last, I got involved in the east African countries of Kenya and Tanzania through the Father John Judie Ministries an organization started by Father John Judie, one of our local priests, who is spending his retirement serving in east Africa. So far, with the help of a few generous people, I have raised enough money to build a new church in Kenya, construct a new house for a single mother, finish a half-built grade school and pay off the outstanding seminary debts of six seminarians coming from impoverished families in Tanzania.

Pope Paul VI, who presided over the finish and implementation of Vatican II, wrote extensively about our universal call to be missionaries. Following him, Pope John Paul II explained even further that all baptized Christians are challenged to become missionaries in their everyday lives. In his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, he stressed yet again that, by virtue of Baptism, all lay people are missionaries.'

Listening to Pope John Paul II does not mean, however, that everyone needs to travel to a faraway land, or stand at street corners to share the Gospel. The Church believes that being a missionary can take multiple forms, always in accord with a person’s state in life. For example, a person can be a missionary through their marriage, showing others how a faithful, committed marriage is possible in today’s world. Another example is an elderly person confined to their home being a missionary simply by praying for missionaries around the world.

Pope Francis, in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, said this: "All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The “new evangelization” calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus." After all, in a few minutes, we will profess to be "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church," won't we?

Yes, you can carry out your duty to be a missionary in your own way. Some personally go to foreign lands. Others support those who do go. Still others follow the news about missionaries and pray for them. Personally, I got involved because I have always seemed to have had “the heart of a missionary." Lately, it has occurred to me that we owe it to mission countries to do what we can to help, especially in those countries who are now sending missionary priests to us because of our own priest shortage. Rather than starting my own mission organization, I decided to partner with Father John Judie Ministries, Inc. working in east Africa. We are trying to do three things mainly: 1. address generational poverty, 2. address Christian Muslim conflict and 3. address the need to emigrate from their own country - through education, right there in their own country! 

If you too want to follow our mission work, each in your own way and even in your old age, access my blog "An Encouraging Word" (fatherknott.com). Along with homilies, reflections and even bits of humor, my every-other-day blogposts contain stories, opportunities and photos of what I am doing these days in the missions of east Africa in partnership with my fellow-priest Father John Judie - among a lot of other things!

The greatest part of doing missionary work is what it does for those who get involved in it, not just the people they help! As the Book of Proverbs (11:24) puts it, “Those who water others will themselves be watered!” 

If you want to keep up with my missionary work, just keep following fatherknott.com and I will keep you informed. Get involved! It will do you good to find out what's going on in other parts of the world...and maybe even be inspired to offer some help!