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Unwavering Faith

This Sunday is World Mission Sunday in the Catholic Church throughout the world. The Resurrected Christ gave His disciples the indication:

“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

This command reveals how the function of the Church has a dynamic, missionary character.

Let us go back in time to the 17th century when one of the first missionaries to our continent lived. Jean de Brebeuf was his name, and he was a Jesuit priest from a noble family from Normandy, France. When he was 32 years old, Jean came to Canada. There, he lived among the Huron tribe of Native Americans. He gradually learned their language and wrote catechisms. He even composed a dictionary in the Huron language. St. Jean became a close friend to the Native Americans, yet, none converted during the first three years he lived among them. He even was a missionary and friend among the Algonquin Native Americans, and even they did not convert. St. Jean was a missionary among the Native Americans for 3 years and none of them converted! Can you imagine? He had no success!

In the year 1636, an epidemic of smallpox struck the Native Americans. And, when they saw how St. Jean and his companions were not affected by the disease, they considered them to be very special. They became very open to these missionaries and during the next four years, 7,000 native Americans converted to Catholicism and were baptized. Sady, a few months later, in the middle of the night, another Native American tribe attacked the Hurons and captured St. Jean. This tribe tortured Jean in the most terrible way. But God gave Jean strength. When the Native Americans saw how Jean was being tortured and tortured but did not die, they wanted his strength. So, as was their custom, they tore open St. Jean’s chest, took out his heart, and ate it. The Native Americans believed that by eating someone’s heart, you obtain their power. In this way, St. Jean died a martyr’s death.

We know from St. Jean’s letters that he had a very deep relationship with God. And his missionary faith deepened when he experienced the futility of his efforts. When St. Jean did not see any results of his efforts, he decided to rely only on God.

In our lives, we too often experience situations where we do something for our family, for our friends, for our co-workers, and even for the Church, but we do not see results. When this happens, we should not be discouraged. Instead, let us try to imitate St. Jean who entrusted Himself to God and God’s Love.

On this missionary Sunday, I would like to encourage each of you to take some time to think about your lives and to offer your lives to Jesus. You can do this by saying this short prayer: “Thank you Jesus for your Love.”

Yours in Christ
Father Arthur

Readings for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Lectionary 146