World Mission Sunday
Fr. Francis Di Spigno, OFM,
Pastor
In the column to the right, we have reproduced Bishop O’Connell’s letter on World Mission Sunday. He reminds us that it is a “shared responsibility to proclaim the Gospel to all nations.” That it is. No one comes to the faith by themselves.
Between my third and fourth year of studies in the
seminary, during my internship year, I lived in Bolivia. I asked to go because I wanted to learn Spanish. I took classes for six months at the Maryknoll community’s Instituto de
Idiomas in Cochabamba, Boliva. Fr. Kevin, although ten years or so before me, also studied Spanish in Cochabamba. It was a very good program, and I did learn Spanish but my time in Bolivia taught me much more than Spanish. It was not an easy year, in many ways. It is hard to live in a culture when you don’t speak the language or know the normal customs and rhythm of life. It was, however, a wonderful year!
During the second half of my time in Bolivia, I had the opportunity to minister with Sister Geralda McCluskey, a Daughter of Charity from Emmitsburg, Maryland. Actually, I was still so “green” that I really didn’t minister with her. I learned from her. She had spent the majority of her fifty-six years in Bolivia doing pastoral work in the Altiplano
outside of La Paz and then, traveling by houseboat with a small team, ministering to the people in the many villages of indigenous Indians in the rainforests of Bolivia. It was
during two mission trips on the Mamoré River that I experienced Sister Geralda as the great and wonderful missionary. It was there that I also met the native Bolivians with bamboo huts and thatched roofs who struggled to live their very simple lives in the middle of the Amazon River Basin. During Sister Geralda’s time in Bolivia, she was instrumental in building schools, forming religious leaders, promoting the rights of women and their families, and addressing the health needs of the villages. My time with Sister Geralda is seared on my soul. It is often said by ministers, be they friars, sisters, or lay ministers, that when we go out to minister, we feel that we often receive more than we gave. To me, that is the true dynamic of mission. When the Word of God is shared it feeds everyone.
It was a privilege to be able to live in Bolivia for a year. It was incredibly eye-opening to start to see our faith, our church, and our world from another people’s perspective. We have poverty in this country, and we have people who struggle with deep financial issues, but I have never seen poverty in the United States that could ever compare with what I saw in Bolivia.
Jesus says to us, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (MK 16:15) As people of faith, we are charged with the mission to spread the good news. That is the main message of World Mission Sunday. We are all called to be missionaries. It is for that reason that the Church dedicates the third Sunday in October to World Mission Sunday.
We don’t need to go to Bolivia or any other place. We can proclaim the message right where we live. But because places like Bolivia are so poor, they continue to need the financial support of their brothers and sisters in the faith. The second collection this weekend will support the Catholic missionaries through our diocesan mission office. Your generosity will support the missionary efforts of our Church, particularly in places that have very little.
Thank you for your continued generosity of time, talent and treasure, as we proclaim the Gospel right here on Long Beach Island and as we support the missions beyond our coastal shores.
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