Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
~ This weekend, the parishioners of St. Margaret of Scotland have the opportunity to participate in the Missionary work of the Catholic Church. In the “Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church”, called “Ad Gentes”, promulgated at the Second Vatican Council, the Church teaches: “Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be ‘the universal sacrament of salvation,’ the Church, in obedience to her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the Gospel to all people.” Likewise: “The Church on earth is by her nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, she has as her origin the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Most of us think of the Church’s Missionary activity as solely belonging to those who go to faraway lands to preach the Gospel. Certainly so many lay people, sisters, and priests have done this splendidly over the course of two millennia. St. Patrick, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis Xavier, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, St. Damian of Molokai, St. Marianne Cope, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and St. Junipero Serra are but a small fraction of the heroic men women who left their homelands to preach Jesus Christ. Even though most of the members of the Church are not called to leave their homes to preach and teach the Gospel, every member of the Church is called to proclaim Jesus in our daily living and to support the work of the Missions through our prayer and sacrifice. St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, longed to be a missionary, but since her ill health prevented her from serving in a faraway land, she devoted herself to praying for the Missionaries of the Church. Today, along with St. Francis Xavier, she is honored as the co-patron of the Missions, even though she never left the Convent in France that she entered as a
teenager.
This weekend, August 23-24, St. Margaret of Scotland will participate in the Annual Mission Appeal. In the Archdiocese of St. Louis, each parish annually hosts a Missionary who speaks and takes a collection for their work and ministry. This year, we welcome the Augustinians of the Assumption. They describe their mission as such:
From the very beginning, the Augustinians of the Assumption (Assumptionists) have been engaged in a wide variety of apostolic works. All that advances the coming of the Reign of God has always been deemed worthy of our apostolic energy!
It’s a preference for poor, in response to the Gospel and to the Church, calling us today to be on their side. For us too it’s a consequence of our own vow to live as poor men. Some will dedicate themselves full-time to this work: with marginalized people of every kind, in hospitals and in prisons, & volunteers in different organizations … But all of us try to live in union with the poor, because the poor will always be with us and because the poor are too often neglected even within the Church.
Our Province of North America is specifically responsible for the missions in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania), Mexico and the Philippines. We provide personnel and financial assistance that is indispensable to maintain our charitable works (schools and nurseries) and formation programs for both laity and clergy in these countries. Many of our apostolates in these countries specifically work to better the living conditions of the impoverished brothers and sisters. In the Philippines, we sponsor education and aid programs for underprivileged villages both in the Manilla area and in other mission centers. Our parish in Orizaba, Veracruz Mexico ministers to an underserved indigenous community.
Please support the Augustinians of the Assumption with your prayers and financial assistance. Envelopes for the Mission Appeal will be provided in your pews, or please make a notation on your check or envelope marked “Mission Appeal”.
Please pray for the success of these efforts, for all Missionaries, and for success in the Mission of the Church – the Mission of all of us! – to make the Good News of Christ known to all people.