Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Purposefulness and Urgency to Proclaim

WORD 2day : Wednesday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 1, 2021: Colossians 1:1-8; Luke 4: 38-44

Paul, Epaphras, Jesus...all seem to be on the move. With a sense of urgency and a feeling of detachment they seem to move on from one place to another with the task of proclamation filling their minds. The question today is about our sense of apostleship - the sense of 'being sent'. Our Holy Father keeps insisting on this dimension of Christian call - being a missionary Church, being missionary disciples and being missionary communities wherever we are! 

The key element here in this missionary sense, or the sense of being sent, is Purposefulness and Urgency. Purposefulness which consists of clarity of one's purpose and meaning of life and Urgency which involves losing no time or attention in things that wont directly concern with the fundamental purpose one feels about one's life and mission. Are we filled with this urgency and purposefulness? Are we convinced about whatever the task is, that is given to us?

And by the way, what is that all important task: announcing the Lord, the goodness of the Lord, the salvation of the Lord - in short, proclamation of the Reign of God. Proclamation is not the work of a few, it belongs to each and every one who is baptised. It is not an added feather to our hats but an essential mark of being a Christian. Of course there is no one way of proclamation. Preaching is just one way; example, witness, convictions, values, compassion and limitless love are all ways of sharing that Word with the world.

Added to the question - whether I am clear about my purposefulness and convinced of its urgency, there is another pertinent question that arises: what is my mode of proclamation? How effective our lives would become with these - purposefulness and urgency to proclaim!