Do you think that the world is in a very bad way, that society has lost faith and good habits, that the emptying of the churches is irremediable and that nothing can be done to reverse this trend? Well, if you think so, maybe you are the problem.
We cannot put all the blame on others. We have to be self-critical and ask ourselves why, if the life of faith is worthwhile, most of our neighbors have stopped practicing it.
This Sunday we celebrate the World Mission Daythe popular DomundThe Pontifical Missionary Works proposes as a motto one of the phrases from the parable of the wedding feast, when the king, after having everything ready to receive the guests, and in view of their refusal to attend, sends his servants to go to the crossroads to invite all those they find. These obeyed and gathered all they found, "bad and good," says the text.
The Church as a wedding banquet
The first image that can help us in this reflection is that of the Church as a wedding feast. A wedding feast is a party, a moment in which the family gathers to celebrate the love of the spouses and to live the fraternity with the family. That is why joy predominates, which we express with the way we dress, with special food and drink, with music, dancing, gifts....
To what extent is our Church a family feast? To what extent is my parish, my movement, my community a place where one can feel part of a family that is celebrating a feast? To what extent am I myself, as a member of the Church and therefore a representative of it, music and wine for those around me? Is my life, through my concrete vocation as a married couple, priest, consecrated, single, etc., a reflection of a feast? The continuous complaint, the hopelessness towards the future, the criticism of those who do not become perfect, the priority for the formal in front of the experiential of the faith, our pharisaism, in short, is what makes many of those who look at us squeak.
By our baptism, we are all missionaries, servants sent to the crossroads to call people to the banquet, for God is supposed to give joy and meaning to our lives; but many of us, instead of attracting them, try to scare them away with our pessimistic attitude or our incoherence between what we preach and what we live.
The joy of the mission
If there is something that stands out in the missionaries who these days around the World Mission Sunday offer their testimony in parishes, schools and the media, it is the deep joy they transmit. In them I have always seen a special sparkle in their eyes; that which, at weddings, is seen in the bride and groom, in the godparents, in the grandparents, in the brothers and sisters and in the closest friends of the bride and groom. A sparkle that speaks of the joy that is in their hearts and that they want to share with all those around them.
On this feast of St. Teresa of Jesus, another tireless missionary, a wanderer and founder of convents as far as her strength permitted, we can learn from her teachings. She teaches us not to remain paralyzed in hard times like the ones we have had to live through, just as she did in her day. Her "let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you" keeps us from the temptation of defeatism, of disillusionment, of the hopelessness into which we can fall when we see evil raging around us. For God has not departed from his people, and though we walk through dark ravines, his rod and his silence sustain us.
The Jubilee of Hope is approaching, which invites us to be, individually and collectively, signs of hope for the world. Let us shake off the dust of depression and bad omens, and let us go to the crossroads to invite everyone, everyone, everyone. Let us trust in the hope that does not disappoint, because patience achieves everything.
Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.
