Homily on Friday, 14th Week in OT, 12 July 2024, FSpIF Chapel, Talamban
These past days since last week, we, Salesians, have been having our retreat. Last week, it was batch 1, and this week, it is batch 2. In one of the talks, one story narrated by our Jesuit preacher struck me strongly. It shows how until these present times, to be a follower of Jesus promoting the values of the Gospel is still a big challenge even in Catholic Philippines. Allow me to share his story with you.
Our preacher told us that soon after he was ordained a priest he was assigned to work in New Bilibid Prison for four years. At first he wondered why he got that assignment, but anyway he went because he was told he would work there only for a year. But the one year suddenly became two, and then, four. And apart from hearing the most shocking confessions from the inmates, he also witnessed the struggles of prisoners executed by lethal injection.
Fast forward, many years later he began campaigning zealously against the death penalty in our country. Because of that, he became President of the Coalition against Death Penalty esp. in those days when this issue was very hot. One day, however, in the height of their rallying against it, he suddenly saw his name on one of the leading newspapers in Manila. The columnist who was obviously in favour of death penalty maligned Fr Junjun and his team mates calling them friends of rapists. Can you imagine that?
Well, the fact is that our Lord Jesus Christ already foresaw all the trials awaiting his followers. In the gospel passage we heard today Jesus warned his apostles that in accomplishing their mission they could face not only rejection but at worse also persecution. What could Jesus really be trying to say? I believe it is this: THE MISSION is not that easy. On the contrary it is extremely difficult, even dangerous and death-defying. Every Christian missionary who faithfully responds to his vocation has to preach the good news also in hostile territories where he or she could be rejected, hated, dragged to courts and even condemned to death. The worst part of the mission is when all of these terrible things are done to the missionary by his very own family members, or by the very people expected to support him.
Have any of these trials ever happened to you? Have you ever been bullied or insulted by anyone simply because you chose to be on the side of truth and to stand by your Christian principles? On a personal note, I have been to Pakistan twice in the past in order to visit our two mission stations running schools for both Christians and Muslims alike. And twice I had a close encounter with death. In 2015 the week after I visited the cities of Lahore and Quetta, two churches were bombed in Lahore by suicide bombers close to where our school was. In one church, namely, St John’s Catholic Church, Akash Bashir, our past pupil, died as a hero in the explosion while forcefully trying to stop the suicide bomber from getting inside the church.
Then in 2018, my confrere and I had to cut our trip short and take the next flight hurriedly back to Cebu due to the nationwide violent protests raging that day against the government. It was an unexpected reaction from the masses against the Supreme Court acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. Thanks to God’s mighty hand, in both instances I was able to escape and return to Cebu safe and sound. I began to realize, then, the hard truth of what Jesus said in the gospel: “When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.” And if that is not possible do not worry at all because when they hand you over to the courts the Holy Spirit will be the one to speak on your behalf.
May this Holy Mass remind us and make us always conscious that we as a Church have indeed received from the Lord a big mission that is not only challenging but also dangerous. And so we pray that we as baptized Christians may be empowered to go and bring it to completion with heroic courage, burning zeal and unwavering enthusiasm all for the glory of God. Just remember this, while the mission might truly be difficult, dangerous and death-defying it remains to be always divinely rewarding. GiGsss!
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