THE MISSION
A
minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in performing the priestly
service of the Gospel of God, so that the offering up of the Gentiles
may be acceptable... – Romans 15:16
Many years ago, I watched The Mission, a
movie about three Jesuit priests who brought the Good News and
evangelized the Guarani natives in South America. The priests, headed by
Fr. Gabriel (Jeremy Irons), established a mission that became a
sanctuary and a place of education for the Guarani natives. By God’s grace and the perseverance of the missionary priests, the pagan Guarani natives embraced Christianity.
But trouble began when the land upon which the mission stood was ceded
to the Portuguese. The mission was to be closed, and sadly, the
Portuguese intended to enslave the natives. Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Rodrigo
decided to fight and taught the Guarani natives the art of combat. For a
while they were able to defend the mission but they were outnumbered.
The Jesuit priests and their converts perished in defense of the mission, in defense of their faith.
The Jesuit priests brought the Gospel to the pagan Guarani natives. Their martyrdom inspired more missionary priests to serve and defend indigenous people all over the world so that Christ’s mission may continue to this day. Dina Pecaña (dpecana@yahoo.com)
Reflection: God is a God of missions. He wills missions. He commands missions. He demands missions. He made missions possible through His Son. He made missions actual in sending the Holy Spirit. (George W. Peters)
God
of missions, grant me the courage to go wherever You lead me that I may
be Your hands and feet in serving those who have yet to know You.
Blessed John Duns Scotus, pray for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment