World Mission Sunday
Mission is the Experience of the Joy of Being Loved by God
One important development in Catholic missionary practice after Vatican II was an emphasis on dialogue. Catholics were invited to dialogue with their Christian sisters and brothers, with women and men of the world’s great religions, and with all people of good will who had no belief in divine realities. Prior to Vatican II, mission was usually about religious priests, sisters, and brothers going from Western nations to foreign countries where the people did not look or act or think like them. Those who were sent from the West were those who knew and had solutions for ‘the other’ who lived in presumed darkness. Generally speaking these missionaries were zealous and caring but they had little understanding of the more theologically developed understandings around the relationship of faith and culture that we have today. Dialogue presupposes that mission is a two way process, a relationship of equals searching for truth together.
In our first reading the event is a legend whereby “it is meant to edify, in this instance to reflect upon the heroic stature of Moses” (J. Cragham, Collegeville Bible Commentary). One perceives an interplay of the human and divine power, and Moses seems to be the visible hero of the story. The passage narrates a battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites. It is said that the latter blocked the passage of the Israelites to the Promised Land. A battle took place between them. Although Moses commanded Joshua to select the men who went on to the battle, the focus of the story was Moses. He went on a hilltop together with two companions, Aaron and Hur.
“Raising of the Hand” in Scriptures often refers to a posture of prayer – a moment when the human reality permeates the divine and vice versa. The staff held by Moses symbolises divine power. This is the staff that was used to strike the waters of the Red Sea, and the sea parted in two. It is the same stuff used by Moses to strike the rock in Horeb (Ex.17:6) from which water flows. That staff is a visible object that implies the proximity of God with Moses (Ex. 17:6). Hilltop or mountaintop when used in Scriptures often refers to a place of prayer.
Aaron and Hur were close companions of Moses who helped him keep his hands raised (the gesture that is equal to winning the battle). The two with Moses formed a team. Authority springs forth when shared. Sustenance of positive results happen when support is given and accepted. Note that Moses got tired in fulfilling his part in the battle. The presence of Aaron and Hur did not only signify support but a sharing in the power. And this displayed the sustenance that brought their mission to completion.
The Mission of God in our contemporary world happens through the participation of the human person, as in God with Moses and Joshua winning the battle against the Amalekites. Moses and Joshua and the people who stood by them demonstrate that all have a part to play to accomplish the Mission of God. The Mission of God takes place in two platforms: activity or action (as Joshua and his army waging the actual battle) and prayer (as Moses on a hilltop with his arms raised). There is a fusion of the divine and the human in order to achieve an end result in mission.
This is what Pope Francis in his Mission Day Message 2013 says in paragraph 4: “Humanity of our time needs the secure light that illuminates its path and that only the encounter with Christ can give. Let us bring to this world, through our witness, with love, the hope given by faith! The Church’s missionarity is not proselytizing, an enterprise or an NGO, but a community of people, animated by the Holy Spirit, who have lived and are living the wonder of the encounter with Jesus Christ and want to share this experience of deep joy, the message of salvation that the Lord gave us. It is the Holy Spirit that guides the Church in this path.” Let us celebrate with deep joy the wonderful experience of mission as being co-partners with God. Happy Mission Day to all from the land of the ‘Long White Cloud’!