Homily Fifteenth Sunday
Year B: Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
- Amos 7:12-15;
- Ps 85:9-14;
- Eph 1:3-14
- Mark 6:7-13
Divine Missionary Journeys
and Benefits!
Pope Francis in his first
Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaiudium, the Joy of the Gospel, sees
the Church, all of us, as a prophetic and as a missionary church; a community
that should goes forth, that go out
there to preach the gospel, irrespective of our locations, geography and
culture! This is what we celebrate today, a Christ who sends us out on a
mission. In fact, three verbs in today’s scriptures support this mission. These
are, the verbs “to go,” to choose,” and “to send.” They are used in relations
to the ministries of the major characters mentioned in today’s readings: the prophet
Amos, St. Paul and the Twelve disciples selected and sent by Jesus in the
Gospel.
Like the prophet Amos sent
to preach in Bethel, or like Jesus who chose and sent his Twelve out, God
calls us from different areas, homes, occupations, and families. He sends us to
different places. He expects us to go without fear, without anxieties, without much
worry, to respond generously under the different circumstances, challenges and
locations that we may find ourselves, knowing and hoping for divine blessings
that awaits us!
Sometimes this is
easier said than done. Personally, I still remember few years ago around the
months of June 15 to July 7, I was chosen by the Dean of our Seminary/School of
Theology, where I teach to join in leading and directing a pilgrimage and
archaeological study trip to the Holy Land. Since I have been there before, in
fact, several times, as a student and as I teacher, I know the challenges of the hot weather,
dehydration, long flight to a contested zone among the Jews, Palestinians,
Moslems and Christians; and frightening machine guns you see in the hands of security
agents, here and there in the Holy Land. This journey is also time consuming.
While digging you role on the dirt, breath in and out a lot of dust. With these
and many other challenging reasons, I thought of declining the invitation. But
the spirit of the Lord said to me, “Michael do this, I am sending you, go lead
the students, my future ministers to the Holy Land. I listened to the Lord. It
turned out to be very good and refreshing. I experienced such a spiritual joy
and benefits than my previous trips. We had morning prayers and daily Masses at
significant places. Starting from Jerusalem, we went to the city of David,
Hezekiah’s tunnel, St. Peter Galligantu, Temple Mount, Western Wall.
In Nazareth we visited and celebrated Masses
at Saint Joseph’s Chapel and in the Church of the Annunciation- took part in
rosary and candle procession. Explored Bethlehem and celebrated Mass in the
church of the Nativity. Visited, Masada, Jericho, swam on the Dead Sea, went to
En Gedi and Qumran Community. We were also at Caesarea Philippi/Marittima, Beth
shan, Hatzor, Meggido and Dan. In Galilee we walked and lived the evangelical
triangle of Jesus- places, he walked and performed most of his ministry- Capernaum,
Chorazin, Tiberias, Mts. of Beatitude, and Tabor, Kursi, Magdala, Bania, and
Bethsaida.
Doing excavation in
Bethsaida was fun. Lots of finds were discovered that link us to stories we
read in the Bible. The people we met from different institutions including
Australia, Canada, Israel, Africa, and the United States were amazing in faith,
knowledge and experiences. Till today we remain friends in Christ.
The spiritual and pastoral benefits of the
journey were overwhelming. It was worth listening to the voice of the Lord, to
“go to the Holy Land,” again! I saw it as God’s Will. And I did it for the
common good and the glory of God! Walking
the station of the cross publicly in the busy road of Via Dolorosa and
celebrating Masses in the Church of all nations/garden of Gethsemane and in the
Church of Crucifixion/ Holy Sepulcher benefited all of us spiritually.
Some of you may also have
100s if not 1000s of personal stories to tell that sound like my—initially hesitating,
but finally with the grace of God sayings, “yes Lord, here I am, I come to do
your will.” This is what the ancient prophet Amos, of today’s first
reading did. As a farmer, he was chosen and selected by God to go from his southern
home town of Tekoa and prophecy or mission to God’s people in the north. It was
not an easy mission for him.
As I thought of the risk in the Holy Land,
Amos must have thought of the risk of confronting the priests, the religious
and socio-political powers of the north. He knew he might be
misunderstood and perhaps rejected. He risked his life by confronting
Amaziah and Jeroboam and by condemning their false sense of healing, worship
and spirituality.
Similarly, the Twelve chosen by Christ
in today’s gospels, and commissioned in pairs to evangelize, preach repentance,
heal, anoint and cure diseases, never had it easy. They faced challenges such
as the need to travel light, go without food, money and excess tunics.
In each of this case, be
it that of Amos or the twelve chosen and sent by Christ, God’s blessings and
divine grace were sufficient unto them. Saint
Paul, in the 2nd reading, Ephesian 1:3-14 speaks of these blessings
and divine providence and spiritual benefits on our journeys especially when we
trust the Lord. Saint Paul who also
experienced mission first hand, says, “ In him we were also
chosen(ekglegomai),destined in accord with the purpose of the One who
accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we
might exist for the praise of his glory…”
In other words, we are the Amos(s) of today.
We are the Twelve of today. We are the Saint Paul(s) of today. The Lord has
called us in our respective roles to prophesy with courage, love, hope and share
our faith with joy. Like the Amos and the Twelve he sends us to bear witness to
him in different situations and circumstances of or lives’ journeys, as
priests, pastors, religious lay men and women, in families, offices and
factories.
Reflection Questions:
- Do we see ourselves as part of the church, the twelve, the Paul(s), and the Amos(s) sent on mission?
- What are the challenges that we face in our various places of missions or services
- How do we help ourselves or assist others to draw inspiration from the prophetic faith and missionary stories handed to us in the scriptures?
