Sent on Mission
July 13, 2025
“At that time the Lord [Jesus] appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, ‘The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.’” –Luke 11:1-2
A couple of weeks ago, on the Jubilee for Bishops, Priests, and Seminarians, I wrote about Bishop Gruss’ pastoral call for each parish and each Catholic in the Diocese of Saginaw to answer Jesus’ invitation to be a “Diocese on Mission.” The first pillar of the bishop’s invitation is to love and support our priests as they undertake their unique role in the missionary work of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus in our society whose values often are in tension with the values of the Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus. We know of the priest shortage in our diocese, and a large part of supporting our priests is praying and working for more vocations to the priesthood in our diocese as Fr. Rick spoke of in his homily last weekend.
The second pillar of our call to be a “Diocese on Mission” is to “Build Disciples to be Sent on Mission.” Each baptized person has been anointed into the prophetic mission of Christ the Prophet (the eternal Word of God who always spoke the truth of God in love). Central to Jesus’ ministry is the building up his Church, a beloved community of disciples who live in communion with him and go out to invite more and more people into fellowship with God and with each other. (1 John 1:3) Jesus’ final words to his disciples in Matthew’s Gospel are, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I to Christ, that you may bear witness to the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection and become an active member of the Church for the building up of the body of Christ in faith and charity.” In our own time, one of the key messages of Vatican II was that we are all called to holiness and to participate in the missionary activity of the Church. The mission of spreading the Kingdom of God is not just for priests, religious, and other “professional” ministers.
The call to be formed as evangelizing disciples is rooted in our baptismal discipleship. We are called to respond to the amazing gift of God’s Grace by actively receiving this Grace with grateful hearts; stewarding that gift, growing in and deepening our relationship of wholehearted love with God and neighbor (as proclaimed in this weekend’s Gospel reading); and sharing the message of God’s unconditional and compassionate love through our thoughts, words, and deeds. The most important way to share the Good News is through our actions: our integrity and how we treat people. As the poet Edgar Guest wrote, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.” Pope St. Paul VI also said fifty years ago, “Modern people listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if they listen to teachers, it is because they have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Those of us who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation have been empowered through the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit to be “more perfectly conformed are witnesses.” While the heart of discipleship is to know God, to live in communion with God and all things and people in God, not to simply know about God; nevertheless, opportunities arise in our households and families, with our friends and relatives, with our neighbors or acquaintances to share our faith in words. It is not about being a master theologian or putting pressure on people (proselytization) but about sharing with others in words who Jesus is to you and how your relationship with Jesus has transformed you, giving meaning and direction to your life. It is about an authentically human heart-to-heart sharing.
The call to be missionary disciples is an invitation to be formed completely (heart, mind, and spirit) to be put at the Lord’s service to bring others into a deeper relationship with God and neighbor. That is why we offer spiritual enrichment opportunities such as Eucharistic Adoration on Wednesday evenings, this summer’s Catholicism Clarified adult faith formation series and weekly Bible study during the school year, and community/service opportunities such as supporting missionaries like the Sisters of Notre Dame Co-Op Appeal this weekend, this week’s Food Truck outreach, and next week’s Neighboring Night. To the extent that we actively participate in these invitations to grow in relationship to God and neighbor, the more we are being fully formed to be the missionary disciples who can be made fruitful in the Spirit for our mission. May we all do our part to be formed as missionary disciples, brining to everyone the message of Christ’s Kingdom and the fellowship we experience with God and neighbor as Catholic Christians here at Assumption Parish!