By: Rev. Fr. Orlando Mendoza.
There are times like this moment when some of us priests of our diocese of Virac are sent for a mission appeal, that is, to beg for financial assistance from the dioceses in Northern America. Our diocese would give us only tickets for our flights from the Philippines to America and back, and for our local flights in America. Last year, I was asked to do a mission appeal for our diocese. Although I had done this sometimes, still I was nervous and afraid because I was in a foreign land, I had no sufficient money, I had no mastery of the English language, and I did not know the place where I was sent, not even the people whom I was meeting. This same experience is happening these days as I am doing a mission appeal in a parish in Eden in the diocese of San Angelo, Texas.
This incident reminds me of what Jesus did to His apostles. He sent them two by two for a mission to other countries they had never gone before. They were to proclaim the good news of salvation and in the process, they too had nothing and had to rely only on the divine providence. Truly, when you fulfill the mission God is sending you to do, God will never abandon or fail you. He will support you in all your needs.
I remember one time when I was doing the mission appeal for the diocese. During my first week of mission, I had a gout and I could barely walk. So I just stayed in my room in the rectory for the whole week, except when we had to celebrate the Holy Mass and eat. When I had to leave the place and go to another mission area, I carried my heavy back pack and suddenly I felt my back became stiff and hard. Good that I had to visit Fr. Francis who was a chaplain in a hospital. After almost two days of suffering from back pain that I could barely breathe, Fr. Francis brought me to the hospital. I was in the emergency room for almost three hours and the doctor injected in me a strong medicine which relaxed my back. I became well but I had no money to pay for my hospital bills. Thanks to Fr. Francis who applied my case to the charitable branch of the hospital and my hospital bill was free. He even personally bought my medicines. Truly, God never abandons His missionaries.
As Christians, we must know that we are always sent by God to be His instruments in proclaiming the good news of salvation. To proclaim the good news is not necessarily to preach since this is the obligation of the priests and deacons for which they are trained. For the majority of the laity, we must reflect on the words of St. Francis of Assisi who said to his followers: “Preach. And if necessary, use words.” Preaching for the laity must be basically through good deeds and examples. The Lord is sending you lay faithful of our Catholic Church to show goodness, kindness, and generosity to others, especially the needy. We must bring God’s love, mercy, and compassion to others especially those who are sick, hungry, oppressed, deprived, victims of injustice, etc.
This is our journey as Christians: to be good towards others and to do good things to them, even to those who hate us. It is a difficult journey especially that God never grants us a lot of things on our journey. He only grants us the necessary thing for our journey of life: the grace of God which is more sufficient than we need. We must not cling to things. We must only hope in God and rely on the divine providence. God Bless!
