Spiritual Motherhood for Missionaries
You may ask yourself who a missionary is……. The first thought that is likely to come to mind is someone going abroad to preach the Gospel through a specific church apostolate. It is true but a missionary is not limited to that idea alone. To be a missionary means you have been given a task to do, to accomplish and for us Christians, this task has been given to us by Christ Himself. What exactly is this mission? To spread the good news to the gentiles. In our time, it no longer only for the gentiles but for every man and woman, boy and girl. Jesus Christ started this mission and handed it over to His Apostles who have passed it unto us. And what has been our response to this task? It is a personal question for us to ponder on. Today the mission is where we are, where you are, where I am. I do not need to travel to Kenya before I can say I am a missionary. It is where I am and live and work. As one who have been set apart to continue the mission, all the Lord ask is focus for every other thing has been given to me.
While hanging on the cross, we see Jesus’s mother at the foot of the cross where hung her son and John His beloved. It was there Jesus handed every of His missionaries to His mother for her maternal guidance. Mary was the first Apostles of Christ and I will say the first missionary. For her mission was to give birth to the Saviour of the world and stand with him till the end. I ask you again….what is your mission? For your personal reflection.
We are called to always go back to our mother for her support. This invites us to prayers the catholic Church has provided for us to always seek her intercession and support on this missionary Journey. Recall that Mary showed herself to the world (at Fatima and asked that we pray the rosary). The rosary is a very strong prayer for all Christians and especially for missionaries. Mary knew that the mission will be challenging and that the human body will always be weak. That was why she made herself available after Jesus had given her to us. Why don’t we seek her guidance?
We might say that we do not see Mary but she answers whenever we call. She called herself the immaculate conception and that anyone who came to her son through her will not be left forsaken. What is it that troubles us, you or I that we cannot share with our mother?
Every man needs a proper nurturing from his mother. For us to be fully integrated men, we need the input of our mothers. There is something spiritually inexplicable about he womb that connects mothers to their children. Mary was given the rare privilege of being a living tabernacle of God’s presence to the world. I would love us to explore the passage in John 2:1-12. What do you observe in the passage? What were the first words of Mary? She said that they have no wine. Wine is closely related to celebrations. Anywhere there is wine, there is joy. Every missionary should be a joy bringer as carriers of good news. You cannot bring joy if you are not an integrated man. Men who are not properly integrated make bad leaders and break up societies.
Next, we hear Mary ask the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. Mary would always lead us into the heart of Jesus. Our rosaries should be our companion. The Commission for Spirituality in the SMA recently launched these rosaries in view of the canonisation of our founder. Bresillac had a special relationship with Mary and this is evidenced in the consecration of the society to the maternal arms of Mary on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. We missionaries are ordinary men, we are broken people in need of mending; we are empty waiting to be filled; we are desperate in the process of being rescued. We should all approach the throne of grace as we are. Jesus is calling you and Mary is interceding on your behalf. Enjoy the maternal protection of Mary whose sole aim is to give us joy in our missions. Are you ready to abandon yourself to God’s love?
Fr. Tee, SMA