Day 24
The Motor of the Mission
Mother and Teacher of all nations — such is the Catholic Church in the mind of her Founder, Jesus Christ; to hold the world in an embrace of love, that men, in every age, should find in her their own completeness in a higher order of living, and their ultimate salvation. She is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). To her was entrusted by her holy Founder the twofold task of giving life to her children and of teaching them and guiding them — both as individuals and as nations — with maternal care.
— St. John XXIII, Mater et Magister, 1
Some people want to conquer the world because they are megalomaniacs. Conquest is all about extending their egos, manifesting their power through domination of others. These are the would-be emperors of earthly kingdoms who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal — Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler. Every age of human history has figures like these. They echo the devil’s own rebellious self-assertion, recorded in Scripture as a snapshot of the attitude behind sin in general: “Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve’” (Jeremiah 2:20).
Some critics of Christianity accuse Jesus, as the Church presents him, of being just one more of these. The leaders of the Catholic Church, according to them, seek to control and dominate people, to enslave them with the chains of ignorance and superstition through a millennia-long exercise in self-aggrandizement.
A Difference in Motivation
But that is not what Jesus’s command to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations!” is all about. That is not the goal of evangelization — not at all. Jesus — unlike the dictators whose failed totalitarian regimes litter the floor of human history — acted out of love. He is, in fact, the revelation of God’s unlimited, unconditional love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Evil dictators may not be fully responsible for their atrocities. Their psychological brokenness may absolve them from much of their culpability — or it may not; that is for God to judge. Yet in every case, they seek to enlarge themselves — their image, their reputation, their influence, their power — at the expense of others. They use others.
This contradicts true, Christlike love. The example and teaching of Jesus was the exact opposite. He gave himself, literally, for the sake of those he loved — all of us. He lowered himself to take on human nature through the Incarnation. He lived an obscure, working-class life in Nazareth for thirty years. He exhausted himself preaching, healing, and teaching his followers during his three years of public ministry. And he offered his own life in loving obedience unto death on a cross to atone for the sins of each and every member of the human family. He summed up his own earthly mission by saying: “ . . . [T]he Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
A High Purpose for a Heartfelt Command
When Jesus commanded his apostles to make disciples of all nations, then, that command didn’t flow from megalomania. It flowed from love, from the sincere, heartfelt desire to rescue every human soul from the existential frustration that is our natural inheritance due to original sin. His life and mission fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who lived in a land of gloom light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing . . . (Isaiah 9:1–2)
Jesus desires people to believe in him, follow him, and obey his teachings because he wants them to live life to the full: “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He knows that all of the good things of the earth — wealth, pleasure, popularity, achievements, power — cannot satisfy the human heart. And when we seek to fill our hearts with them, they become twisted, destructive idols that actually thwart our progress toward fulfillment. Following them and putting our hopes in them, we become lost, confused, desperate, even twisted ourselves. Jesus alone, through the gift of divine grace, can save us from that, and he wants to do so; that’s why he established a missionary Church.
Seeking the Troubled and Abandoned
This deep connection between love and mission comes across beautifully in a passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus had finished his Sermon on the Mount, and he had proven the trustworthiness of the words in that sermon by an astonishing series of miracles. At that point, St. Matthew gives us a glimpse into what’s going on in our Lord’s heart:
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Matthew 9:35–38)
Jesus encountered people who felt “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” This is the perennial struggle of the human heart, the reason behind the sincere but often desperate forays of philosophers and religious thinkers of every place and time. The human heart yearns for wisdom and completeness but cannot find it in this fallen world; it yearns to make sense out of life but is stymied at every turn by the paradoxes of evil, suffering, and human misery. Jesus was moved by this human condition, by the angst of the human predicament.
From Worthy Feelings to Effective Action
And what was his reaction? In the very next verses of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus called his twelve apostles, gave them a share of his authority and power, and sent them out as his messengers to bring hope, guidance, and healing to all those who are “troubled and abandoned” and otherwise trapped by the forces of evil.
Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. . . . Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “ . . . As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons . . . ” (Matthew 10:1, 5–8)
Jesus enabled and commanded his followers to do precisely what he had just been doing — preaching, teaching, healing, serving, bringing light into the darkness of needy human hearts. Clearly, the mission of the Church is the outpouring of God’s own love for every person.
The commandment “love your neighbor as yourself” should be understood in this context. It embraces much more than a passive avoidance of harm. To love someone, in Christ’s mind, is to affirm the goodness of his or her existence and to help that existence flourish. If every Christian is called to participate in the Church’s mission of evangelization, it is only because every Christian — and indeed, every human being — is created for love, to be loved, and to love in return. Only this gives our lives the meaning we crave.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
What idea in this reflection struck you most and why?
Why do you think so many people today consider obedience to be a bad word — or at least a bad idea? How would you express in your own words why God wants us to obey his teaching and commandments?
What teachings of the Church make you uncomfortable? Which ones do you often feel interior resistance toward? Why? What should you do about that?
People can often do the right thing for the wrong reasons. We can do a favor because we want to ask for a favor in return. We can compliment someone because we want to be liked. We can show kindness in order to manipulate. In those cases we are not truly loving the other person — at least, we are not loving that person with a pure heart. This impurity leads to frustration and resentment when we don’t get what we want. The path of love that Jesus invites us to follow is different. It seeks to honor the person we are serving, to give of ourselves in a way that will truly help that person, but also respect him or her. This form of love requires more reflection and sensitivity, as well as a denial of our own deep-seated selfish tendencies. But it also creates a climate of interior freedom for us, and an unambiguous experience of goodness on the part of the one we are serving.
Today, how will you seek greater purity of heart in your words and gestures of kindness?
- I will do a hidden act of kindness, something that only God and myself will ever know about.
- I will reflect on situations where I typically end up feeling resentful or frustrated and ask God to show me where those feelings are really rooted.
- I will spend ten minutes today in silent adoration of a crucifix, gazing at Jesus dying on the cross and thinking about the revealed truth that he did it in order to show me how much he loves me.
- (Write your own resolution) I will
Concluding Prayer
Jesus, the beginning and fulfillment of the new man, convert our hearts so that, abandoning the ways of error, we may walk in your footsteps on the path which leads to life. Make us live our faith steadfastly, fulfilling our baptismal promises, testifying with conviction to your word, that the life-giving light of the gospel may shine in our families and in society. . . .
Jesus, only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth, the light which illumines every person, give the abundance of your life to all who seek you with a sincere heart. To you, man’s Redeemer, the beginning and the end of time and of the universe, to the Father, unending source of all good, and to the Holy Spirit, seal of infinite love, be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
— Prayer of St. John Paul II for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000
