Sent out into the world: the Holy Spirit, the principal agent of mission

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses. (Acts 1.8)

I hope you are bright and fresh this morning? Yesterday was a good day, with many memorable moments, not least of all welcoming the Holy Father into our midst. It is good to have the successor of Peter with us, the one on whom Christ built his Church. It is one thing knowing this intellectually and it is another thing experiencing it in a situation like this.

I don’t know how you feel, but expressions like “Universal”, “Catholic”, “all nations”, “to the ends of the earth”, suddenly they are no longer cerebral concepts but genuine experiences with which I am in immediate touch. Here we can recognise that the Church, the Body of Christ on earth really is Catholic, universal and international. We can see that the good news of the kingdom is slowly but surely reaching to the ends of the earth. We are witnesses to this. It is now part of our job to somehow become missionaries and let people know the wonderful things that the Lord is doing even in our days, in our sight.

Yesterday we finished by talking about the gift of the Spirit which we have received in baptism and confirmation. If you have not already received the sacrament of confirmation, perhaps over these few days you will be determined to do something about it when you go back home.

In the sacrament of Confirmation we are given the courage and strength to become witnesses of Christ. In fact, we are told that we must be-come witnesses. In the rite of confirmation there is a model homily on which the bishop can base his. It says:

You must be witnesses before all the world to his suffering, death, and resurrection; your way of life should at all times reflect the goodness of Christ. Christ gives varied gifts to his Church and the Spirit distributes them among the members of Christ’s body to build up the holy people of God in unity and love.

Be active members of the Church, alive in Jesus Christ. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit give your lives completely in the service of all, as did Christ, who came not to be served but to serve.

We are called to be witnesses, we are called to share in Christ’s mission, we are called to evangelise. However, before we go rushing off in every direction filled with zeal to do all these things, it is important that we really understand the call and ensure that we are sufficiently prepared to carry it out. One of the first lessons we must learn is that the call to mission and the call to holiness go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other.

The call to mission derives, of its nature, from the call to holiness. A missionary is really such only if he commits himself to the way of holiness: “Holiness must be called a fundamental presupposition and an irreplaceable condition for everyone in fulfilling the mission of salvation in the Church.”

If we are to be genuine witnesses, genuine missionaries and genuine evangelisers it is first and foremost through our lives, the way we live – again we must become living Gospels for all to hear. If we are to proclaim the Good News, we have to be transformed into good news by the power of the Spirit living and working in us.

While there is no doubt that we need to study and read and learn to be a missionary, we more than anything need to come closer to the person of Christ through the gentle action of the Spirit of God. If we come to know Christ and his overwhelming love for us, how could we not want to go out and tell others about it? How could we not want our families and friends and, indeed, the whole world to know this same Jesus and his love for them? Here is the beginning of our mission, of our task; this is how we become witnesses. As St Paul says, “The love of Christ impels us.”

For all Christians, wherever they live, are bound to show forth, by the example of their lives and by the witness of the word, that new man put on at baptism and that power of the Holy Spirit by which they have been strengthened at Confirmation.

So we come back again to the Spirit who was given to us at confirmation. Perhaps those of us who have already been confirmed ought to spend some time reflecting on exactly what the nature of that Spirit is that has been poured into our lives and the effects that it should have on us and those we meet.

A Story

Two men stood on the high cliffs. ‘What do you think, John?’ The other man listened to the night and answered: ‘With the wind pounding and the sea against those rocks, it’s hard to tell. But I’m afraid we have another one’. The first man shook his head. ‘Aye, and it’s the third shipwreck this month. I’d best tell the crew’. He ran down the beach to a small lighthouse and pounded on the door: ‘Time to be moving! There’s a wreck up near the north cliffs. We heard the cries in the wind.’

The life-saving crew tumbled out of the lighthouse, their sea-worn faces pale in their lantern light. They plunged their little boats into the waves with amazing skill. Such tragedies often struck that lonely coastline. A sudden shift in the wind, a thick fog rolling across the water, a treacherous turn in the tides, and an unlucky ship would slam into the reefs, its hull slashed by the rocks. The cry would go out – abandon ship! But no sooner had these words left the captain’s mouth, than the lantern of a life-boat would appear in the darkness, leading the wrecked seamen to safety.

The little lighthouse soon grew famous. Each day there came a new knock on the door – I’ve come to help! You saved my son’s life, please take this small sum as a sign of my gratitude. I want to be part of the crew!

The ramshackle building of the lighthouse was repaired. Large boats were built and crew members travelled to schools for professional training. Then one day the entire crew sat in a circle on the sandy beach and held a meeting. A young man stood up and said: ‘What are we waiting for? Everyone knows that this old lighthouse isn’t meeting our needs. We need bigger and better facilities’. Everyone shook their head in agreement. Soon the old structure had been pulled down and a sparkling new lighthouse rose above the beach. And as their fame grew even wider, a luxurious new wing was added onto the new white tower. In it the newly formed lighthouse society could celebrate its social functions.

The years fled by. Then one rainy night the Society was holding its annual formal dinner by candlelight and dancing to a string quartet when suddenly: Look, a red flare out at sea! The cruel rocks had trapped another victim. As the dinner continued the rescue crew fought the storm in desperate relays. The shipwreck proved the most horrible of all. There had been an explosion aboard ship mangling many of the survivors. They flooded the lighthouse filling the ballroom with confusion, overturning tables. The dinner guests were stunned. The lighthouse governing committee met in emergency session. The annual dinner, vital to their fundraising, had been ruined. There was ugly murmuring, something must be done.

So separate buildings were constructed for shipwreck victims, in order that the new lighthouse would not be soiled, nor the social functions of the society disrupted. But soon, other problems arose and at last the chairman of the lighthouse called a general meeting: Times have changed, the lighthouse has grown and taken on many new and important functions. The old work of life saving is a hindrance to our task. An angry debate followed and a minority protested: But we are a rescue station! If we stop saving lives we have lost the reason for our existence! Yet they were shouted down. When the ballot was taken the lighthouse had discontinued in its life saving function.

An angry minority left in protest and moved to a rock reef down the coast. In the midst of great hardship they built a new lighthouse. Over the years the fame of this little lighthouse spread until one day there arrived a delegation of benefactors: Such a courageous crew deserves more than a dilapidated lighthouse. We have raised funds for an entirely new building…”

A modern lighthouse soon rose into the air and professional crews began to battle the tides. Then with the passing of time, life saving operations became less and less frequent. Again members divided into bitter factions. Angry arguments flared into the open and a few left to build a third lighthouse, and a fourth, fifth and a sixth….Until today, there are many expensive and exclusive lighthouses along that stormy coast….but many are the ships that are wrecked upon its cruel rocks and many are the lives that are lost.

The Church does not exist for its own sake. It has been given a commission.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature”.

Evangelising is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelise.

The mission of evangelisation is not a vague call to the Church in general. It is a commission to every member of the Church. If we are called to evangelise then it is important for us to understand what evangelisation really is – what is it that we are called to do? Evangelisation is bringing people to salvation – that is bringing them into a relationship with God. In proclaiming the Gospel message that Jesus has saved us from our sins, we are also brought into a relationship with the Father. But evangelisation is more than proclaiming the Gospel, for the Gospel is liberation from sin and the effects of sin in our lives. It is also more than talking to people about Jesus and prayer, it is helping them to experience the fullness of salvation in their lives – spiritual, emotional, physical, social.

Bringing a person into relationship with God also means bringing them into a relationship with the Church. We express our relationship with God by using such terms as becoming a member of the Body of Christ. As we evangelise others, we must seek to bring them to the point where they experience the fullness of life in the Church, growing in their relationship with God through their relationship with their brothers and sisters.

The Spirit leads the company of believers to “form a community,” to be the Church. After Peter’s first proclamation on the day of Pentecost and the conversions that followed, the first community takes shape (cf. Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35).

One of the central purposes of mission is to bring people together in hearing the Gospel, in fraternal communion, in prayer and in the Eucharist. Even before activity, mission means witness and a way of life that shines out to others.

True evangelisation involves proclaiming the person of Jesus.

There is no true evangelisation if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, are not proclaimed.

Jesus is the goal of evangelisation. He must be proclaimed in such a way as to explain our witness, our service and our faith. We must be sure that we do not stop short of proclaiming to others the source of the holiness in our lives, our service and our strength.

Evangelisation relies on the power of the Holy Spirit to bear fruit.

We may get discouraged or frustrated in our efforts but we must remember that it is the Lord who brings forth growth.

Our efforts are sometimes just the seeds that are planted to be watered by someone else, only to be harvested much later in that person’s life. We should be especially careful not to reject another or lose our loving attitude towards someone who seems to reject us.

Perhaps, again the task seems rather difficult and hard for you. It is all well and good when we are here together in Sydney, where solidarity is palpable, unity genuinely visible and charity surrounds us. But what will happen to us when we go from here, when we return to our homes, our parishes, our colleges, schools, our jobs? Things will feel different.

Let’s just return to that wonderful sacrament of confirmation, where you, like the first apostles, received the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. On that day when you were gathered with your friends, your family, sponsors, catechists and your parish who represented the entire Church, the whole people of God prayed for you in the prayers of the rite. Listen again:

Let us pray to our Father that he will pour out the Holy Spirit to strengthen his sons and daughters with his gifts and anoint them to be more like Christ.

And then, with hands outstretched over you, the bishop or the one giving you the sacrament solemnly prayed:

All powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life. Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.

Then you were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. How can you doubt that you have been given the power and the strength of the Spirit to do all that God is asking of you?

If you who are evil know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

Brothers and sisters, as we come to the end of this time of catechesis, let me assure you that you have been given everything you need to fulfil the mission that the Lord has entrusted to you. All you need to do is use those gifts; open yourself to the Spirit; entrust your life to the Lord and he will act.

Then Jesus said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

How wonderful are the works of the Spirit
Revealed in so many gifts!
Yet how marvellous is the unity
the Spirit creates from their diversity,
as he dwells in the hearts of your children,
filling the whole church with his presence
and guiding it with his wisdom!