Friday, 11th Week of Ordinary Time

June 20, 2003

St. Paul was perhaps one of the most traveled and ambitious missionaries who ever lived. Traveling throughout much of the northeastern Mediterranean Basin and perhaps reaching as far west as present day Spain, Portugal and France, he spread the gospel and established churches wherever he went, realizing that at times it meant the price of great sufferings and persecutions.

We might wonder where did he get the stamina to keep on going. It certainly wasn't the energizer bunny. But it was by prayer that Paul lived his words of being generous and joyful both in the face of persecutions and rejections and in the pain of his own disabilities, which must have been so burdensome that three times he prayed to be delivered from whatever this malady that tortured him. Today we might pray for the discovery of a new wonder drug instead of patience and perseverance.

Paul paid his price joyfully, because he saw himself privileged to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, His Master, and his one time former enemy. (Remember what we said about forgiveness yesterday.) Like Jesus, who remained faithful in his mission to the end, Paul looked beyond the trials of the now to the goal of advancing the Kingdom of God.

Christian missionaries throughout history have followed this similar path. And it not just tales from the past but in our own times as well. Countless missionaries are courageously working to advance the Kingdom despite persecution and without the popularity and fanfare of a Mother Theresa.

For instance in the summer of 1996, headlines announced that seven French Trappist monks had been murdered in Algeria by a group of Islamic extremists.

Just two years ago Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, two young American missionaries in Afghanistan were arrested and imprisoned for three months by the Taliban.

In Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and other places, Christians continue to suffer persecution as they attempt to spread the gospel and live as followers of Christ.

And us here in America, land the free and home of the brave, how many were persecuted and ridiculed when asked to address their public representatives a couple of weeks ago. How many were told to mind their business and observe separation of church and state. But when the state infringes on the rights of its citizens to believe and to practice their beliefs and rituals without public harassment, citizens must stand up conscientiously.