“Anyone ,who wants to be first among you, must be slave of all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In this World Mission Sunday, the gospel of Mark gives us the key of the missionary Church: to serve, to be slave of all, to give one’s life. At the same time, the gospel clarifies that Jesus is the model of identification for our lives, He did not come to be served but to serve; how many times we should examine our consciences, looking at our attitude; do we have the tendency to be served? To make of others our servants?

Fr. Palau had his mission very clear: “My mission consists in announcing to the people that you -Church- are infinitely beautiful and lovable and to preach to them to love you” (MR 12, 2). He served the Church with great love until the point of dying contaminated by typhoid fever, while taking care of the sick.

Since I was twelve years old, I wished to become a missionary “ad gentes”, to go to the poor, to serve them; that became the motivation of my vocation; this helped me to choose my carrier, to serve the sick better and professionally. Maybe, we cannot perform great miracles, as Jesus did, but we can perform simple signs of his presence among the people:

  • To dedicate one’s life serving the poor.
  • To believe that they can develop with a little of our motivation.
  • To leave behind ‘my time’ and ‘my comfort’ because somebody with an emergency rang the doorbell.
  • To give a ‘healing smile’.
  • To break the tension with a joke.

Let us pray today for the persecuted Church, for the martyrs of today. And let us be moved to help financially the church who is in the midst of the difficulties: wars and terrorism. Let us support the missionaries who are committed in Jesus’ cause.