This is Mission Possible

Christianity is not nice words and empty phrases, it has to be practised in a committed and sacrificial way that is clearly identifiable in the world and influences its surroundings.

These words of Bl Adolph Kolping (1813-65), the founder of the Kolping Society, challenge all of the laity today because we, as laity, are in the world. How do we make Christianity identifiable in the world? How do we spread the message of Jesus in the world?

The logo for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ strategic plan for the next four years sums up our Christian mission.

The unique contribution that the laity can make to the mission of the Church is to live out their Christianity with full intent so that the mission of Jesus is realised in the ordinary events that make up the life of the laity  in politics, economics, society, culture, human love, family life, their professions, and even their suffering  all of these are arenas where the lay people can make an impact in spreading the message of Jesus.

Many times we are not clear on how we can participate in the mission of Jesus. Sometimes we do not understand what the word mission means.

When we hear of missionaries, we may think of priests and nuns going out into the world to bring the Good News to people. Is that our mission? Sometimes we hear in sermons that we are all missionaries  what does that mean?

Firstly, mission is a doing word. When we use the word, in ordinary life, it always suggests an action, such as I’m on a mission today, meaning that we want to do something today. When we say Mission accomplished, it means that we have completed what we have set out to do. Or when we say Mission impossible, it means that what we are trying to do seems very difficult and it looks like we will not accomplish our objective.

So our mission is to do what Jesus has asked us to do, and that is to go and love as I have loved. We have to do this in a very practical and concrete way. The everyday things we have to do, we have to do in the Spirit of Jesus. So everything we do, wherever we are, is part of the mission of Jesus.

Secondly, we have to remember that we are not doing anything because of our own ideas and efforts, but because we have been sent by Jesus. And that is our vocation as laity: we are tasked to take into the world the message of Jesus in our everyday lives.

Our lives are filled with many ordinary and mundane tasks, which do not make front page news or get honoured with public awards. But these ordinary and mundane tasks are opportunities of loving like Christ loves, thereby raising them as spiritual offerings to God.

Take for example and ordinary activity like going to work. How do we bring the mission of Christ into our work? We can do this by doing an honest day’s work, by being faithful to the job, not wasting time and material, having respect for the ecology, speaking with respect to co-workers, bringing the spirit of encouragement and creativity to each other.

This is how we make Christianity visible in the workplace. Think of ways you can make Christianity visible in other areas of your life.

Christianity is not just a theory or a philosophy. It is action. It is living the mission of Christ in a very practical way.

This is what Bl Adolph Kolping means in the quote that opened this article.