This Sermon is prepared by

Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US



ஞாயிறு மறையுரைகள்

மதிப்பிற்குரிய அருட்பணியாளர்களே, துறவிகளே, அருட் கன்னியரே, உங்கள் ஞாயிறு மறையுரைகளை எமது இணையத்தளத்தின் ஆன்மீக வலத்தில் பிரசுரித்து, ஆண்டவர் இயேசுவின் நற்செய்தியை எல்லோருக்கும் அறிவிக்க விரும்பினால், info@tamilcatholicnews.com என்ற எமது மின்னஞ்சலுக்கு உங்களுடைய ஆக்கங்களை அனுப்பிவைக்கவும். உங்கள் மறையுரைகள் உலகெங்கும் இருக்கும் அனைத்து தமிழ் உள்ளங்களையும் சென்றடையும்.



இதோ! ஓநாய்களிடையே ஆடுகளை அனுப்புவதைப்போல நான் உங்களை அனுப்புகிறேன். எனவே பாம்புகளைப்போல முன்மதி உடையவர்களாகவும் புறாக்களைப்போலக் கபடு அற்றவர்களாகவும் இருங்கள்.
(மத்தேயு 10:16)

நீங்கள் போய் எல்லா மக்களினத்தாரையும் சீடராக்குங்கள்; தந்தை, மகன், தூய ஆவியார் பெயரால் திருமுழுக்குக் கொடுங்கள். நான் உங்களுக்குக் கட்டளையிட்ட யாவையும் அவர்களும் கடைப்பிடிக்கும்படி கற்பியுங்கள். இதோ! உலக முடிவுவரை எந்நாளும் நான் உங்களுடன் இருக்கிறேன்
(மத்தேயு 28:19-20)

நீ அவற்றை உன் பிள்ளைகளின் உள்ளத்தில் பதியுமாறு சொல். உன் வீட்டில் இருக்கும்போதும், உன் வழிப்பயணத்தின் போதும், நீ படுக்கும்போது, எழும்போதும் அவற்றைப் பற்றிப் பேசு.
(இணைச்சட்டம் 6:7)








15th Sunday of Ordinary Year

Moving Missionary Spirit!

Am 7:12-15, Eph 1:3-14, Mk 6:7-13

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, we shall welcome one another as we begin this Eucharistic celebration of the community. ‘Go to the corners of this earth, go out till the end of the world and be my witnesses’ were not only the messages offered to Apostles; rather it is passed on to us through every sacrament, particularly at every the Eucharistic celebration. Our faith is inherited and received from a missionary at some point in the history of our local Church. In the digital world of technology, we can speak to people as we are on the move, where messages and communication are conveyed at high 4G speed today. How far have we become missionaries, in passing out the Good News to our neighbors? Do I keep moving from one place to another, or do I get struck in a comfortable place?

A message appeared in the media that very soon there will be a debate in which is a very important choice between the love of the wife or the clarity of Wi-Fi? Yes, people want a high speed network; we want to keep moving as well as the infrastructure for a 4G network for communication. What’s App, Face Book messenger, Goggle message and various colorful text messages mostly provide fun, pleasure and time-passing, rather than new energy and enthusiasm. It is because we do not use our creative and innovative power. We totally depend on the programmed files. These Sunday readings invite us to activate the moving missionary spirit in us.

A missionary is not a beggar and a missionary is not a poor person; rather a missionary is a person who moves with a zeal and commitment in order to energize and create life in people. From Abraham to the Apostles, there were chosen people who kept moving, to create life among the community of people with their energetic missionary spirit. Pope Francis finishing his visit to three nations. He addressed the gathered people in Ecuador that “It’s a Church on the move, in mission, with the desire to live in communion with the Pope, and to show it. “We’re all called to be missionaries and to bear witness to our faith in our daily lives, it’s a challenge to live a life of holiness and mission in our day to day lives. I think it’s a Church that is on the journey, growing, and more and more missionary.” "We evangelize not with grand words, or complicated concepts, but with 'the joy of the Gospel."

We need to know the historical situation in order to understand the first reading of today. For a long time the Holy Land territory had been divided as the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms. Israel was called as the Northern Kingdom, while Judah was known as the Southern Kingdom. Jerusalem was the central place of Judah. People who missed the holy place of Jerusalem in the Northern Kingdom considered Bethel a place for sacrifice and worship. They had a shrine with several priests but who were allies of King Jeroboam. They pulled the people to worship false gods by breaking the Covenant of Yahweh. They began to exploit the poor by becoming powerful with the support of the king. Amaziah was the High Priest of Bethel who was heading all the false worship. In such a situation, the Prophet Amos was sent by Yahweh as a missionary from Judah to Bethel, who challenged them and their worship practices. He informed them about the future fall of King Jeroboam. Here, the now furious Amaziah told Amos to go back to the South Kingdom of Judah as King Amaziah was intending to kill him! Amos tells us here that he is neither a professional prophet nor a legitimate priest, but rather a simple shepherd. He said that he was sent by Yahweh to challenge their evil practice and to energize the people towards the creative life of Yawheh.

Walter Brueggemann suggested that “the task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.” Influenced by the sociological perspectives of Peter Berger (The Sacred Canopy, Doubleday, New York: 1967), and Thomas Luckmann (The Invisible Religion, Macmillan, New York: 1967), Brueggemann proposes that ministers who would be prophetic must be willing to: (1) criticize, i.e. to reject and delegitimize the present order of things, in as much as this order militates against the Gospel; and to (2)energize persons and communities by holding out a vision of another time and another situation toward which the community of faith may move. Amos, a man ahead of his time, anticipated and proved to be such a moving and energetic missionary.

Why does Jesus choose the twelve Apostles and send them two by two? Sending the twelve is the continuous mission of the twelve tribes of Israel. According to Jewish law, two witnesses were needed to pronounce a truth. Going two by two carries with it the authority of official witnesses. They were not alone, and had each other to pray together, to support one other, and to discern conjointly how to manage problems. Two is the smallest number of a community of believers. Why were they allowed to carry a staff, sandals and anointing oil? A staff was to protect themselves against wild animals; anointing oil was to offer hope and grace in ministering the sick on their way of their missionary journey; sandals were to protect themselves as they would walk through the uneven path.

The word apostle comes from the Greek word “apostolos,” meaning messenger or a person sent forth. In English the word ‘missionary’ comes from the Latin word, missio,” which means sending or to be sent. St. Paul frequently calls himself an apostle. The Apostles were sent as messengers and as witnesses not merely to preach and teach in words, but through their life-style. They gave the message through their life; and that message was that they knew Jesus personally. They lived like another Christ; and finally they were loyal to Jesus at any cost. The mission, life and the death of each Apostle reveals this.

About the fast missionary work in African countries the theologians explained that we don’t send books for them to read rather we send Catholic families who can creatively energize the community of people. St. Francis of Assisi once asked one of the new priests of his monastery to accompany him to a parish retreat. Francis used to stop in different places and to say hello and listened to people; he also played with youth and children with a lot of singing. The young priest asked, “When will we reach the parish to start our missionary work?” Francis responded that when they had left their monastery, it was then they had begun their missionary work. Shall we be the missionaries who can create and energize life in the community? Let us ask Our Lord this question every morning in the light of Eucharist, “the heavenly manna of the traveller” given to us with love, how will I engage the Lord’s mission this day?...whom will I meet and bring along the way of ‘grace of truth’? -Amen