O Mary of the Rosary, keep me recollected when I say these prayers of yours; bind me forever, with your rosary, to Jesus of the Blessed Sacrament.

21st Sunday after Pentecost. October 21st, 2012 Extraordinary Form

This Sunday is World Mission Sunday. In his Message for World Mission Sunday last year, Pope Benedict XVI explained its theme, saying, “The universal mission involves everyone, everything and always. The Gospel is not an exclusive possession of those who have received it, but it is a gift to be shared, good news to be passed on to others.”
World Mission Sunday reminds us that “The very nature of the Church is missionary,” And so, each one of us in virtue of our baptism are called to missionaries. Each one of us is called to proclaim the Gospel, to proclaim the fullness of the Gospel to our families, to our neighbors, and to our country and our world.

We are called this Sunday, not only to this awareness of our mission, but to share more deeply in the broader mission of the Church to bring the light and love of Christ to the World. And as a consequence this World Mission Sunday should enkindle in us a love for evangelization, which is to bring Christ to the World and so to help others share in the fullness of life on this earth, a life in Christ; and so, help others reach finally the joy and eternal life of heaven.

There as been in recent years a great failure in the missionary activities of the Church on many levels. I think that this stems from a great loss of faith. So many members of the Church no longer see the necessity of working for the conversion of people of different faiths or even no faith. So many embrace the false idea that everyone is going to heaven they’re just taking different paths or different vehicles to get there. Some wrongly attribute this understanding to the teachings of Vatican II. Surely this mistaken notion comes from a misunderstanding of the Council, but not from its documents and decrees properly understood; for the Council was a great calling to all Catholics to become evangelistic, to become great missionaries. The teaching of the Council was a call to evangelize the world through its universal call of each Christian to holiness of life.

I remember before my ordination listening to a priest friend of my trying to encourage a missionary priest who had become despondent with his priesthood. The missionary could no longer see the need to continue his work in a foreign land. In fact, he spent most of his time, not baptizing souls but working a large garden on the Church property were he lived. He had lost his missionary spirit. He longer saw the need to work for the salvation of souls; before we judge him perhaps his failure came from not enough Catholic’s supporting him in sacrifice and prayer.

I encounter this loss of missionary spirit during my seminaries years as well. The ideal of mission that I was presented with was one of so-called “social justice and peace.” The missionary spirit was one that was socialistic and political in nature, working and even protesting against so-called unjust social structures in differing lands and even in our own country-it called for equal distribution of wealth and so saw all rich people as evil and all the poor as saints; it was an idea of all out class warfare. Sadly many times it was said that the Church Herself, the spotless bride of Christ was one of the worst of these unjust social structures because of its hierarchal and so non-egalitarian nature.

This Sunday’s call for us to be missionaries and to support the missionary work of the Church is particularly important in this “Year of Faith.” The growth in the mission of evangelization within the Church begins with us. And to enkindle our love for
evangelization we must grow in our faith. This is the year to commit to doing so with ever-greater vim and vigor; in other words, holy zeal, holy zeal to spread the light of Christ to our world and so to souls for the sake of their salvation and ours. And as I have said, this zeal for souls begins in our families and in our parish families. We must become zealous in our solicitude for the salvation the members of our family and parish family. Evangelization must begin with the re-evangelization of our families and parish families and then go out to our communities and our country.

And so, on this Mission Sunday within this great “Year of Faith,” we are called to grow in our faith in order to become true missionaries working for the salvation of souls. However, as today’s Epistle reminds us, the more we do so, the more we will come up against opposition; I don’t just say from the world around us, but even and most especially within our family and our parish families. But we must remember as St. Paul says, we don’t fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and spirits of this present age. Our true enemy is Lucifer. And he is not to be slighted; he is a mighty adversary. Jesus never dismissed the devil as of no account and neither can we. Satan is described in the book of the Apocalypse or Revelation as a mighty dragon; elsewhere as a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

In this “year of the faith” we must as St. Paul tells us; Put on the Divine Armor of God. It is not with human strength or by merely human means by with which are to fight but with God’s strength and with God’s weapons, which have already been given to us by our Baptism. We are call to now in a special way in this “Year of Faith” to come to understand more deeply these six implements of war, by which we are to fight the battle, not only for our own preservation, but for our work in the salvation of souls.
Let’s look quickly at these impressive and most effective weapons.

The Sash: St. Paul says: “Be gird with the sash of truth.” In St. Paul’s day soldiers used a sash or cincture as a kind of carry-all-to carry all the items he needed in battle; it was most especially use as kind of scabbard to slip their swords into. Truth is an incomparable good. IN fact, Christ is the Truth, and He promised the truth would make us free. Consequently the consciousness of possessing Christian truth in its fullness-the full teaching of the Church-is a tremendous strength for us. WE must as St. Paul carry the sword of truth!

Our breastplate is one of Justice and holiness and they may be regarded in equal terms. St. Paul says: “Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” We must as the scriptures tells us, “put a the new man; that is Christ. We must become as Jesus by deeper conversion and so growth in holiness-we must become other Christs for the world, for our families and parish families. WE must not only possess the truth but we must live It in Charity!

Our shoes. “Have your feet shod with the readiness which the Gospel of peace brings.” By these words the Apostle refers to the instant cooperation with which we are to respond to the occasions we are presented with to preach and spread the Gospel, doing so not only with words but most especially with actions. A well-equipped soldier must always be well shod. He must have good shoes. By the way one of the reasons Napoleon was so successfully was not just in his military tactic but because we made sure his soldiers had good shoes. Patton made sure his troops had not just enough socks but fresh socks—so important are the feet in the battle. We too must have good shoes—that is; great zeal for the Gospel. Zeal is a consequence of love; it lightens the step. A Christian soldier sure of his step will preach the Gospel of peace; He will be ever ready and prepare to do so when and however the opportunity presents it self; He will do so not just for friends but for His enemies, that is even to those who oppose him!

The Shield. Our shield is faith. Ancient soldiers always carried a shield. For the Roman soldier it was made of hardened leather and was carried on his left forearm and measured 4 by 2 and half feet. It covered a man from the tip of his nose down to his knees. It deflected the arrows and blows of his enemies that would otherwise have seriously injured or killed the warrior. But like all man-made defenses there comes new weapons to defeat them and with new weapons comes of course new defenses. For the romans the new weapon that answered the shield was the flaming arrow that when embedded in the leather shield quickly rendered it useless and so exposed the soldier to direct attack.

There is one shield, St Paul tells us, that never fails to ward off even the fiery arrows of the enemy and fend off even the fiercest onslaughts of the devil and his minions. This is the shield of faith in God. IN all temptations, faith serves to protect the Christian soldiers. The eternal truths of faith cannot be destroyed by the malicious attacks of the enemy. But faith must be a living faith…the truths of our Catholic must not just believed, but lived in charity!

Our helmet for us is the helmet of salvation. A soldier’s helmet is designed to protect his head, which is the principal target of the enemy. Modern helmets have proved their usefulness in countless engagements. They protect the head from all kind of shrapnel coming from explosion of the bombs of the enemy. No fighting man can afford to be without it. We the Christian soldier have at our disposal the helmet of salvation; which in Christian hope, we already possess. In fact, St. Paul calls this hope of salvation our helmet (1 Thes 5:8). It comes from the knowledge that Jesus has come and has won the price of our salvation and so has already defeated the enemy. Jesus has already won the war and was and is the Victor; this fills the true soldier with confidence and great, great Hope.

These are our defensive weapons, but we are not to engage in a merely defensive war against the enemy. No we are missionaries; we take the light of the Gospel to the world. We cannot build a castle surround with a mote and hide from the world. Vatican II reminded us that we must engage the world; we must take Christ out to the world not just protect ourselves from the world…WE must be in the world but not of the world.
And so we have, at our baptism been given powerful offensive weapons. It is not a soldier’s job merely to deflect the blows rained upon him by his enemy; he must also fight back. He must take up the sword. We too must take up the Sword.

Our sword is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We have the scriptures the Word of God and we have its correct interpretation contained in the deposit of faith and presented to us infallibly by the Magisterium of the Church—the Pope and the bishops in union with Him. Like the flaming sword of the Cherubim who guarded the entrance into paradise, the sword puts to naught the powers of sin and of error. Remember, Jesus Himself, by his use of Scriptures against the devil (Mt 4:4,7,10 etc), proved how powerful a weapon the Word of God is when used along with the Magisterium and Sacred Tradition.

Our other offensive weapon is Prayer. This is the weapon par excellence.. With this most powerful weapon the Christian warrior can strike anywhere and anytime, from close or afar, with greater rapidity and precision than any laser guided weapon, in fact; more so than any weapon yet devised or that will be devised. The Romans legions had the most advanced weapons of their day, but yet the Apostles armed only with the power of prayer, conquered Rome itself. Paul recommends prayer in all its forms; whether adoration, petition, thanksgiving, vocal or silent.

This brings us to the most effective prayer—prayer in faith before the Blessed Sacrament. The Word of God is most effective offensive weapon but the Word of God is not just the written Word of God. No, the Word of God became flesh and dwelt and now still dwells among us truly in the Holy Eucharist. Prayer, with faith in His true Present is most effective because it is faith in His Incarnation; and so, it is faith that the Eucharist is Jesus in His resurrected body, the only way to victory, the only way to the Father.

Faith in the Eucharist and prayer before the Eucharist is our most effective weapon; in fact, it is the weapon of our salvation and the Weapon that will ensure our share in the victory of Christ not only for ourselves but for countless souls as well. For our Faith in the Holy Eucharist will make us true missionaries-true soldiers of God.

O Mary of the Rosary, keep me recollected when I say these prayers of yours; bind me forever, with your rosary, to Jesus of the Blessed Sacrament. Blessed be Jesus, my love, blessed be the Immaculate Virgin Mary.