Mission and Holiness

Called to Mission and Holiness By Virtue of Our Baptism

Our Baptismal Consecration Calls Us To Mission and Holiness
The new teaching of the Church in relation to a vocation to mission and holiness
is that all of God's faithful, whether clergy, religious, or lay faithful, are called
to the Christian mission and to a life of holiness. The basis for this universal
vocation is our own baptismal consecration. Whereas before, the emphasis was
placed in what differentiates us from each other through the hierarchical
structure of the Church, now, the stress is our common Christian vocation to
mission and holiness because we are all baptized and receive the same Holy
Spirit. So, all Catholics, are called to mission and holiness through the
different life-situations they are called to live in their states of life and
personal callings. The way each one lives out the Catholic mission and
follows the call to holiness depends on what particular state of life he is
called to live out and what personal calling or vocation he is asked to do.

Mission and Holiness Are Inseparable
Mission and holiness has always been the stress of our Holy Father's pontificate.
He makes this known very much through the many statements he makes and
through his encyclical Redemptoris Missio. In this encyclical, he makes it
clear that mission and holiness go together and that one cannot exist without
the other. The reality of mission and holiness are intertwined just as the
reality of contemplation and action are intertwined. Pope John Paul II continues
to say that it is the Holy Spirit that spurs us on to take active part in the
Catholic mission and to pursue a life of holiness in doing so. To better
understand the context of how he makes mission and holiness an essential
element of our being Christian you can study his encyclical Redemptoris Missio.
There are eight excerpts and passages that are also culled from that encyclical
and are published in this website.
These are the excerpts:
Incarnating the Gospel in People's Cultures
Dialogue with Our Brothers and Sisters of Other Religions
Promoting Development by Forming Consciences
Charity: Source and Criterion of Mission
The Holy Spirit, Principal Agent of Mission
The Spirit Directs the Church
The Holy Spirit Makes the Whole Church Missionary
The Spirit is Present and Active in Every Time and Place

What Really is Mission?
The gospel is where we can find the mandate of Christ for our Catholic mission.
It is found in Matthew 28:16-20:
"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 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."
Our mission is therefore to proclaim the Gospel that Jesus has taught us: in our
own family, in our workplace, in our parish, and in our neighborhood community.
In this mission, we may speak and preach about the Gospel, but we can just the
same perform the mission through acts of generous service and charitable works.
The mission especially of the lay faithful is to sanctify the secular areas of
life with the spirit of the Gospel. And this is only possible if we live a
life of holiness - a life of close intimacy with our Lord Jesus Christ. Mission
will not be effective if not backed up and made credible by a life of prayer and
holiness. Otherwise, the mission would just be like any other secular activity.
It only becomes truly a mission in the true sense of the word if we perform this
mission in the spirit of Jesus. And we can perform the mission in the spirit of
Jesus if we are steeped in intense prayer, sacrifice, and a kind and merciful
attitude towards those we are proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed.

Isn't Holiness Only For the Saints?
Holiness seems to be very far from the reality that we move and work. If we are
especially immersed in a very urbanized and very industrialized environment, the
work ethic and lifestyle is so strong that oftentimes we forget this dimension
in our life. But, holiness is not only for the saints. Holiness is a universal
call and vocation for all who are baptized into the Church. All Catholics, from
the Pope down to the least layman is called to a life of holiness - a life
strongly bonded with Christ and a life in genuine intimacy and relationship with
God. If holiness is a call to all, how should I follow the call? What should I
do? Well, this depends on how God is calling you at the present time. If you
are part of the clergy, then holiness means celebrating the sacraments so that
the People of God may indeed turn their attention more to God and experience His
love and mercy more and more in their lives. On the other hand, if you are
married, then holiness means loving and serving your spouse and children in
the spirit of the Gospel. All these are just one means to holiness. There are
many ways to holiness as there are many ways to God. But holiness is not really
our end; our main task is to proclaim the Gospel with the spirit of mission that
Jesus taught us. Holiness is a means whereby the mission is made efficacious.
Through our life of holiness in the Catholic mission, we let the Holy Spirit
lead and direct the mission and make it fruitful. A life of holiness in the
mission makes the mission God's mission and not our own.

Mission and Holiness in Everyday Life
We need not be missionaries and go out to different cultures and to immerse
ourselves among peoples of other nations. Mission and holiness can just be
elements of our everyday living. Though it is the task of a privileged and
special few to really live out a life of mission and holiness by preaching
the Gospel to other cultures, our life of mission and holiness can be just as
significant if we perform the ordinary with extraordinary service and charity.
The simple tasks that we perform or the ordinary encounters that we experience
everyday can be extraordinary moments of mission and holiness if we let the
spirit of the Gospel enliven it and bring it to life. The more we are docile
to the Holy Spirit, the more He will lead us to a life of mission and holiness
everyday. Our lives and the lives of others will truly be enkindled with the
fire of God's love and imbued with the spirit of mission and holiness if we
always let the Gospel be our guide in all the daily decisions we make and in
all the words we say and in all the actions we do. The quality of Christian
life we live really depends on how we live out a life of mission and holiness.
The more we do so, the more we enter into the mainstream of the life of the
Church. And the more we enter into the mainstream of the life of the Church,
the more our life is immersed in God.

Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
January 9, 2005

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