Homily for the Week of October 21, 2012

WORLD MISSION SUNDAY October 21, 2012 29 B Isaiah 53:10-11 Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22 Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45 or 10:42-45 Most TV news channels have what is known as Eyewitness News. Eyewitness News is what it says it is. What you are watching on the TV is what actually happened as if you yourself had been there for the event. Jesus lived thousand of years before TV news, but he nevertheless invited every one of his followers to witness to others what he taught them. Those who believe in Jesus were chosen to be his messengers on the day of Baptized.The promises that the parents and godparents of a child to be baptized are the same as the Creed we proclaim together at Mass right after I leave the pulpit. Each year a special Sunday is set aside for us to remind us to think about and to pray that the way we live is and eyewitness to the way that Jesus would live if he were here. We call this action our mission and the individual who carries it out is called a missionary. To be a missionary means to respond to the invitation of Jesus to go and do the same. Jesus is no longer here in person, so he needs us to represent him. While we often associate a missionary as a person who goes to a far away country to talk about Jesus, by our Baptism each of us are asked to be misssionaries every minute of our lives. This weekend, however, we honor and identify with those who leave the comfort of their homes and communities to go to other places in our world to bring the news of Jesus to those who have not yet heard of Him. Most of us probably don’t realize that some of these persons have a close identification with our country and with Cadyville. Two hundred years ago an 18 year old girl by the name of Pauline Jaricot was born to a wealthy family in France. Her father owned a silk factory in Lyon, France and Pauline worked in the factory. During that time many young men and women left France to become missionaries in what was called New France -- the Eastern part of the United States. Pauline's brother was one of these young men. One day Pauline received a letter from her brother who lived in New Orleans in which he described the extreme poverty of the Catholic people in Louisiana. As the result of her brother's letter Pauline organized a group of the women working with her in the silk factory. She called the group the circle of 10. Their purpose was to support the French Catholics in the United States. Each woman was asked to pray each day and to give a penny a week. Pauline then sent the money to her brother. Pauline Jaricot was convinced that not enough people represented Jesus because they could not find the time. This group became what we Catholics today call the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. At that time this parish was part of the Diocese of Albany. Two thirds of their collection benefited the young Catholic church in the United States including the Diocese of Albany in which St. James, Cadyville was located, and benefited financially. The Bishop of Albany wrote to Pauline and said that we could not exist but for your charity. This weekend we also have a great example of persons who gave, not their money but their lives to be missionaries. Tomorrow Pope Benedict XVI in Rome will declare that Kateri Tekakwitha is a saint.. Kateri is the first Native American saint in the Catholic Church. Kateri was of Algonquin and Mohawk descent. She became an orphan as a young child. A smallpox epidemic left her sight severely damaged and her face scarred for life. It so happened that missionary priests from France come to Albany. Kateri learned about our Catholic faith from Issac Jogues, one of these missionaries. She was Baptized when she was 16. After her Baptism members of her village made fun of her and threaten to remove her from the Village. To protect her two Christian Indians placed her in their canoe and brought her up the Hudson River, to Lake George, Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River to Kahnawake, near Montreal where some Catholic Indians lived. She died in 1670 at the age of 24. All of this happened because some young men decided to leave France and come to what was known as New France and teach about Jesus to the Native Americans around Albany and Lake George 350 years ago. In our first reading today Isaiah tells of the suffering servant: If he gives his life as an offering for sin. the will of the Lord will be accomplished through him. We know that God wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. While Isaiah wrote this thousands of years ago, I am sure that we who believe in our faith and try to live it the best we can often find some persons who think it is ridiculous that we do. And because of this many persons quit the practice of their religion. In the Gospel today Jesus asks James and John Can you drink the cup I shall drink or be baptized in the same bath of pain as I? In a sense Jesus is asking each of this personal question. As we celebrate World Mission Sunday we are reminded that our missionary work takes place not only among family, friends and neighbors, but also extends to all peoples. Two thirds of the worlds people have not yet been reached with the Good News that Jesus told us about. We must help them to hear, and to experience the saving love of Jesus, teaching and healing of those who serve. We are called by Jesus today and always to a radically new way of life in which the criteria of success are totally different from the world's criteria. We are call to a new relationship and friendship with Jesus. We are expected to express the values that Jesus realized in his own life. Each of us have been given much, but from whom much is expected. We are called in a special way to be “missionaries of faith,” The greatest and most effective gift you and I can give to others is to let them see in us an eyewitness of the goodness and love of Jesus. Without saying a word we will bring hope and peace to many who have been waiting to hear good news.