Peace and unity are the ultimate goal

August 19, 2007 -- 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. How does our personal mission statement read? 2. What is your reaction to the Asian bishops' mission statement? 3. Do your words and attitudes cause peace or division?

Some years ago, the Roman Catholic bishops of Asia drew up this reflection on their understanding of the Church's mission: "Mission includes: being with the people, responding to their needs, with sensitiveness to the presence of God in cultures and other religious traditions; and witnessing to the values of God's Kingdom through presence, solidarity, sharing and word. Mission will mean a dialogue with Asia's poor, with its local cultures, and with other traditions."

The Gospel today speaks of Jesus' mission - why He came. We should be stunned to hear that He came not for peace, but for division. We should be stunned to hear that He came to set fire to the world and predicts that families will be rent asunder. To interpret this text correctly, it must be read in the context of the whole Gospel where Jesus' mission is clearly one of union and unity - not division, a mission of peace and not destruction.

Perhaps the experience of the Asian bishops will help us. They too want to light a fire, the fire of faith, so that the people, especially the poor, might come to know the love and mercy of God revealed in Jesus. In doing this work of evangelization, division would be bound to happen, thus the need to dialogue honestly and courageously with the cultures and traditions that are part of their national history. The ultimate goal is peace and unity; on the way, there will be division and suffering and much pain.

That takes us to the reading from the book of Hebrews. Here too we hear about the cross and suffering and sin. The challenge is to keep one's eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that in Him alone is our salvation and joy. Life is a struggle, and there will be many forces that attempt to draw us away from achieving the mission of bringing about God's kingdom. And we are given a great reminder: we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, the communion of saints, those individuals who were baptized into and lived the mission of Jesus.

Another man on a mission was Jeremiah the prophet. He ran into trouble with the local authorities because his preaching became a threat to them and their power. The plan was simple: get rid of him. We know the rest of the story and how Jeremiah was rescued and continued to fulfill his calling. I tend to think that these words of Frederick Buechner would resonant in the heart of Jeremiah: "Thus, when you wake up in the morning, called by God to be a self again, if you want to know who you are, watch your feet. Because where your feet take you, that is who you are."

In baptism and in confirmation we were given a mission. The Asian bishops understood what theirs is. We are challenged to reflect seriously about our own. As Romano Guardini once stated: "Finally, Jesus blesses his disciples, that they may go out into the world not to build empires or to make history, but to carry the sacred message of love to men." This too is our task: to carry that sacred message of God's love and forgiveness to every person we meet.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)