The Missionary Mandate

When Jesus was about to leave His disciples for the very last time, and ascend into heaven, he said something radical to them:

"Go, then, to all peoples everywhere, and make them my disciples."

ALL people. 

EVERYWHERE

The first time I read this great missionary mandate (alright, not the first time, but just flow with it) was as we began our preparations for World Youth Day late last year. As the theme of Rio 2013, the quote was soon doodled over my notes pages, posted to Facebook and running through my head to the tune of this (cheesy but catchy) song. In all honesty, though, I didn't really read it. 

"Go, make disciples of all nations"

"Okay Jesus, nice thought! I'll stay here in my little bubble and think about how wonderful a quote that is! What a good Christian I am!"

Oh, how He must laugh at me sometimes!

The thing is, I'm pretty thick. Quite frequently, my prayer takes the form of:

"Alright, my Jesus, I know that you have a plan for me. I want to follow your will. But I'm not clever, my God. I'm actually quite a blithering idiot. So if you intend for me to know your will, you're going to have to smack me over the head with it." 

Well, sometimes He does smack you over the head with it (more on that some other time!!!!), but more often than not, true discernment of the Lord's will involves effort on our own part.

Eventually, after a prolonged period of idiocy, I re-read the quote with open eyes and an open heart.

Go

Stagnancy is poison to passion. If we are to be the Lord's disciples, we cannot be content with simply being. True love of the Lord creates not only the desire to know Him more, but also a pressing need to make Him known to others. 

"Have the courage to 'go out' from yourselves in order to 'go forth' towards others and to show them the way to an encounter with God"

Benedict XVI, Message for the 28th WYD

We were not made for comfort. We weren't made to be in a perfect little impenetrable bubble of Catholicism. Selflessness isn't about sentiment. It's about putting yourself, your heart and your beliefs out in the open (to be pelted by the elements and picked apart by crows). And this is hard!  I struggle a lot to go forth out of my own heart, to be raw and real with my peers. That's not to say I don't do it (frequently!), but it takes courage to risk persecution.

'Go' is a verb, an active word (I should totally get Scholarship English, right!?). The Lord is not asking for placid passivity. He desires, He demands a radical change of heart, concrete resolve and visible action. 

Make Disciples

What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? The word disciple has a few meanings:

* To be a disciple is to be a pupil. Christ is the great teacher, and listening ever anew to His doctrines is the greatest way to grow in knowledge and in wisdom

*To be a disciple is to be a follower. Christ asks us to follow in His footsteps, to take up our Cross with Him. We imitate Christ in love and out of love.

*To be a disciple is to accept and assist in spreading the doctrines of another. Not only do we believe what Christ tells us, but we see it as a duty and a privilege to share that joy with others.

Therefore, to make disciples is to bring others to encounter with Christ, the great teacher, leader and evangelizer. We are the "first missionaries among our contemporaries", and it is our obligation and joy to pass down the faith for which our ancestors fought.

All Nations

Here's where it gets hard. 

All people. Everywhere. Hahahahaha!

It's as if Jesus forgot, for a moment, that we're neither God nor Hermione Granger. Not being blessed with omnipresence or a time-turner, we mere mortals can see this last part of the missionary mandate as inconceivably daunting. 

But is it?

I'm reminded of the starfish story - we won't start by making a difference in all nations. But we can begin by making a difference in one.

Yes, Jesus is speaking to us personally when He calls us to Go and Make Disciples of All Nations. And yet, this personal call is for billions of people. Not every battle is our own battle. Relying in Providence, we should strive to accomplish all we can for God and not worry about all the souls we didn't convert. God rejoices in the ones we did. 

*****

All of this is a very roundabout way of saying- I'm going to NET next year! Yes, there will be spiders in Australia. Big ones. There will probably be snakes, too. Maybe even flying cockroaches.  But I know, in my heart of hearts, that the Lord needs this of me. He desires an active response to my missionary vocation, and asks me to bring His Gospel to the young people who so desperately need it. They need the joy and the peace that comes from a heart filled with Christ. They need to know that they are worth something; that they play an irreplaceable role in this world; that they are beloved.

Dear reader, I thank you for being you. You are such an incredible child of God. You are beautiful and whole and perfect. I feel honoured that you stopped in at my little blog. I will pray for you over the next year, and I ask that you do the same for me. 

May God bless you,

Kate