JULY62025

 The Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. Christianity from its very beginning has been a missionary religion seeking to spread its message to the whole world. This was not the heritage of Judaism. While there were non-Jews who were attracted to their faith (the Bible calls them “God-fearers” or proselytes) there was no one equivalent to St. Paul in Judaism who organized an entire missionary movement. Our culture with its “you do your thing and I’ll do mine” attitude is not that receptive to missionaries either. For most Americans the Jehovah’s Witnesses standing on the street corner are off-putting.  But Jesus wanted to spread his message far and wide. Maybe the key to why can be found in the word “Peace” that his missionaries were to bring to others. The message of Jesus is not simply one option among many on the religious menu. It is, in fact, the word that the world needs to find is the peace of Jesus that surpasses understanding. Christians are missionaries because of love. We love the people woven into our lives and they are starving for what we have — faith in the unconditional love of God which Jesus proclaimed. The world goes running this way and that looking for happiness, for peace, for love. We have it in our faith. We must share it so that this world will recover the divine plan where all become one.