Sitting down in the middle pew at church, I noticed the young servers and Fr. Paul- the new pastor- standing by the door waiting for the entrance song to begin as they do the procession. I do not usually pay attention to the procession, but this new, lanky, old-bearded priest being followed by four little black-haired boys one-third of his height was a site to behold. And it is enough to ignite my curiosity about how the new priest will officiate the mass.
After the entrance hymn, Fr. Paul goes near the edge of the altar and introduces the readings today – the 29th Week of the Ordinary Time. Then in a clear and loud voice, he does the opening prayer.
After the first and second readings, the congregation rise for the reading of the gospel. Fr. Paul, reads the gospel very clearly. Then we sit down to listen to his homily. Unlike other priests who stay stationary by the podium, Fr. Paul leaves the podium, stays in the front of the altar and faces the congregation. He begins his homily by reminding the congregation of the significance of today – Mission Sunday. Then he approaches the altar to flip a ready-made visual aid that eventually hangs by the edge of the altar, so everybody could see it. The word is MISSION.
He continues to reflect upon the church’s missionary work and says that in his fifty years of missionary life, he realized that there are three important things for missionaries to remember: that they should not think they are bringing faith to the people, that they should not impose the faith on others, and that they should be willing to answer the call in all parts of the world.
Real missionaries, according to Fr. Paul, do not go and bring the faith to people. He believes that people already have the faith in their hearts. Missionaries help people liberate their faith. He spoke about the Chinese people as an example. He says that while they are not Christians, Chinese people have this strong desire to know more about the Christian faith.
Fr. Paul says that missionaries should look up to the example of the Jesus himself – the model Missionary. He explains that Jesus proposed and not imposed the faith. Jesus did not say, “Believe in me or you go to hell!” Instead, Jesus talked about the mercy and love of the Heavenly Father. He talked about a loving, forgiving, and just God. It is up to people to accept this teaching. So, Jesus proposed that a life lived with God is the right path.
When it came to his third point, Fr. Paul flips another visual aid showing the five continents: Europe, China, North America, Africa, and Oceana. Then he brings out his color-coded rosary that matches the colors of his visual aid and explains that the color green represents Africa, red represents North America, white represents Europe, Yellow represents China, and blue represents Oceana.
Throughout Fr. Paul’s homily, the parishioners were visibly actively listening. But the most exciting part of his homily was when he called the four little altar boys and asked them to help him give some gifts to those who could answer his questions. The gifts turned out to be color-coded rosaries. The final question he asked was – who were the women missionaries mentioned in the Bible? Then he went on to identify them saying, “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Sussana. In short, Mary-Joan-Anna (Marijuana!)!” to the laughter of the congregation!
“Jesus calls all of us to become missionaries,” Fr. Paul said. Then he emphasized the need for missionaries all over the world. He says that in his fifty years of being a priest, he served not only in North America but also in Puerto Rico, Colombia, China, Zambia. He wishes that more young people would respond to the call to become missionaries for the church.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning made more beautiful by this one-of-a-kind missionary.
This Borrowed Scrap of Time 