Faith- Missionary-St Paul Miki & companions

HOMILY WEEK 04 04 – Year II

Our Royal, Missionary Mandate:

Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions

(1 Kg 2:1-12; 1 Chron 29; Mk 6:7-13

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While travelling as a university student with Cast C of the international singing group Up With Peoplein 1969, we performed for King Beaudoin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium in their jungle garden. I was able to take notes of the conversations cast members were having with the queen, while the editor of the Albuquerque Tribune, who had taken a year off to travel with the cast, took notes of the conversations with the king. Together, we wrote and telegraphed an article to our newspaper, Tomorrow’s American, in Los Angeles, and received a one-word reply: “Terrific!” I treasure the pictures I took of that event to this day.

This exciting event pales in comparison to the invitation presented to us by today’s readings, to share in the divine authority of God given to King David, and the royal authority shared with his disciples, and with us, by Jesus himself, the Son of God.

In that first reading, a dying King David passes on his royal authority to his son Solomon, with the admonition to walk in the ways of the Lord his God, as David had done – keeping the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. David stresses the need for Solomon to be faithful in this walk, to put his whole heart and soul into that mandate, and his throne would be secure.

In the gospel from Mark, we see Jesus, the king and creator of the universe, Son of God and Son of David, amazingly share his authority with his disciples, sending them out in pairs, and giving them authority over unclean spirits. They are to trust in providence, to proclaim repentance, deliver people from evil spirits, and heal the sick. Theirs was truly a royal, missionary mandate.

Pope Francis wants everyone of us to be missionary disciples. In his Encyclical Evangelii Gaudium # 120, he says this: “In virtue of their baptism, all members of the People of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church of their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization.”

So, we must go out like the disciples, the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene and St. Paul after encountering Jesus. To be baptized, to be a member of the Church, is to be missionary, to reach out, to spread the Good News. Yet in a world of secularity, pluralism, multi-culturalism, political correctness and tolerance, how does one evangelize and carry out this missionary task?

We can take our cue from both King David, and today’s gospel. We are to be strong and courageous, and keep the charge of the Lord our God. We are to walk in God’s ways, keep God’s statutes, ordinances, testimonies and especially God’s commandments. That would first of all be the Ten Commandments of the Mosaic covenant, but especially the new commandments given to us by Jesus which I like to summarize as loving God with our whole being, loving others as we love ourselves, loving one another as Christ has loved us, and above all, loving our enemies by forgiving them from the heart. We can add to this list, living out the spirit of the beatitudes which offer us the Magna Carta of Jesus’ teachings.

The Gospel itself is a study in methodology for evangelization: Jesus sends out the disciples in pairs, stressing the reality that faith is lived and shared best through community, team ministry, relationships. They are to trust in divine providence, putting less reliance on their own efforts and resources, and more on the power of the Holy Spirit working in them and through them. They are to preach repentance, metanoia, change, putting on our highest minds, letting go of anything that holds back the reign of God. They are to make healing part of their ministry, including anointing people with blessed oil or sacred chrism in the sacrament of the sick. All this applies to us as well as present-day missionary disciples.

Daniel Gagnon OMI in Mexico City is an example of an exceptional evangelizer – working with seven computers to broadcast programs simultaneously; writing up to 16 books on evangelization; infiltrating some sects to study what they think and how they operate from within, and gathering up all their materials so as to be able to evangelize them.

From 1987-1990, I was privileged to team up with a lay couple from Beauval, Ed and Angie Mihalicz to form an archdiocesan renewal team we called KRT (Keewatin Renewal Team). They generously took a steep cut in salary to live on a diocesan stipend, and selflessly and creatively gave of their time, treasure and talent over those years to minister to others. We adapted Fr. Chuck Gallagher’s Parish Renewal weekend experience into a five-evening process of music, fellowship, scripture, talks, reflection questions, small group sharing and plenary sessions that sometimes went until past midnight. In some communities we would offer the Christopher Leadership Course to potential leaders, and about three times a year, a Search weekend for youth.

For over three years, we crisscrossed the archdiocese offering these sessions, exercising a ministry that was unique, rewarding, very interesting, exciting and above all, gave us a sense of being missionary disciples fulfilling that mandate of Jesus and King David.

Today, the church honors Jesuit seminarian Paul Miki who lived these readings to the point of martyrdom. On February 6, 1597, he and 25 companions, clergy and lay, were killed for their faith in Nagasaki, Japan. They were suspended on crosses and killed by spears thrust into the heart. Before his death, Paul affirmed his faith in Christ and offered forgiveness to those responsible for his death. This persecution was triggered by a nationalist fear of foreigners: for almost the next 200 years, Japan would be closed to the rest of the world. Despite this isolation, the faith survived without any priests and with only the sacrament of baptism. Paul Miki and his companions were canonized in 1862. Paul Miki is the patron saint of Japan.

The Eucharist is an act of faith in God’s love for us through Word and Sacrament. May our celebration empower us to accept and live out our royal, missionary mandate as did the early disciples, and Paul Miki and his companions.