Go and invite Everyone to the Banquet

Reflection on Mission Sunday, 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, Oct 20th, 2024
Texts: Zech. 8:20-23; Psalm 116:1,2; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Mark 16:15-20 

We celebrate today Mission Sunday. It is a day set aside to express our solidarity with all missionaries all over the world, pray for them and support them. It is a day we create the awareness of missionary orientation and evangelization. The theme for this year celebration is, “Go and invite everyone to the Banquet”. The theme charges us to go and invite people to encounter God and enter into communion with Him. 

Everyone of us here today are beneficiaries of missionary work of some people. If some people had not gone mission, we would have not been Christians today. We would be worshippers of one idol or the other. Our gods would have been Ogun (god of Iron), Sango (god of thunder), Orunmila (god of wisdom), Ifa (god of divination), etc.  

Today we are Christians because some people went forth and came to us with Christian faith. They answered the command of the Lord: “Go and invite everyone to the Banquet”. Since, we are beneficiaries of missionary work going on mission is a debt we own. As we receive the faith we are duty bound to give it to others. Then, the work of mission is for everyone.  

Pope Francis does not forget to remind us that mission is everyone’s work. He puts it thus: “Let us not forget that every Christian is called to take part in this universal mission by offering his or her own witness to the Gospel in every context, so that the whole Church can continually go forth with her Lord and Master to the “crossroads” of today’s world.” 

The work of mission takes different forms: Support and agency. Those who support the mission are those who give and pray for the mission. Mission Sunday gives everyone opportunity to give and pray for mission. It is a day to sensitise people on the need to always give and pray for the mission.  

Our Lord commands us to pray for the mission when He says, “Pray for the Lord of harvest to send labourers to His harvest” (Lk 10:2). He commands giving for the mission in the words: “Eat and drink  whatever they offer you ... labourers deserve his wages” (Lk 10:7). In today’s first reading, St. Paul says, The farmer who has done the hard work should have first share of the harvest (1Tim. 2:6).

The people who actively involves in the mission are agents of mission and so form the agency of mission. They are on the field doing the work of mission, preaching the gospel, evangelising everywhere, inviting people to encounter God and enter into communion with Him. They are called missionaries. They are the ones we are in solidarity with today through our support and prayer.  

Pope Francis speaks of missionaries thus: “I take this opportunity to thank all those missionaries who, in response to Christ’s call, have left everything behind to go far from their homeland and bring the Good News to places where people have not yet received it, or received it only recently. Dear friends, your generous dedication is a tangible expression of your commitment to the mission ad gentes that Jesus entrusted to his disciples: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’ (Mt 28:19).” 

Every form of work of mission is important and interdependent. The agents of the mission depend and thrive on the support and prayers of their benefactors. Money and prayer will not work without missionaries. The success of mission is the result of joint effort of both missionaries and their benefactors. 

Pope Francis points out, in his mission message, that God’s love and mercy is the source of mission work. He says, “God, great in love and rich in mercy, constantly sets out to encounter all men and women, and to call them to the happiness of his kingdom, even in the face of their indifference or refusal.” If God’s merciful love does not dwell in us we cannot give for the mission, pray for the mission or be the agents of the mission.  

 Pope Francis calls this going forth a tireless one because God’s love is its source. He says, “As for the first, we need to remember that the servants had previously been sent to deliver the king’s invitation to the guests (cf. vv. 3-4). Mission, we see, is a tireless going out to all men and women, in order to invite them to encounter God and enter into communion with him.” Hence, there is no end or limit to giving or going for the mission.  

Pope Francis also reminds us this year that the invitation to encounter God and enter into communion with Him is to everyone. We are to invite the poor, the rich, the lame, etc. Everyone needs God in his/her life. He says, “As I emphasized, ‘This is the heart of mission: that ‘all’, excluding no one. Every mission of ours, then, is born from the heart of Christ in order that he may draw all to himself’ (Address to the General Assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Societies, 3 June 2023).” (No. 3) He adds, “Christ’s missionary disciples have always had a heartfelt concern for all persons, whatever their social or even moral status.” (No. 3) 

The message, today, is that mission requires everyone’s involvement. Mission Sunday provides for us the opportunity to contribute to mission globally. Whatever we give today we advance the mission of Christ far and near. Contributing for the mission is a must for us because we are all beneficiaries of it. 

Prayer  

Lord Jesus, you are in the world to call people to encounter God and enter into communion with Him, always crown the effort of all missionaries with success and provide for their needs. Amen  

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke