Day 6: Mission to Administer to the Poor, Marginalised and the Lonely
On day 6 of the novena, the parish welcomed Rev. Fr. Joachim Robert who was the main celebrant at Mass. He was accompanied by parish priest Rev. Fr. Dominic Santhiyagu and assistant parish priest Rev. Fr. Louis Loi.
Homily
Speaking on the theme of the day, Fr. Joachim focused on the word ‘administer’ which he said can be used in two different contexts. First, to manage and be responsible for the running of an organization and second, to dispense treatment or remedy. Likewise, the call to administer to the poor, the marginalized, and the lonely should be answered with a two-pronged approach of managing the practical necessities as well as to reach out to them by dispensing the love and care that they need.
Drawing on the Church’s theme for the year ‘Baptised and Sent’, Fr. Joachim stressed that the mission to reach out to the underprivileged was given to us at baptism. When the baptismal waters were poured over our heads, we also received from God all the graces necessary to live a life of active mission. Using the analogy of a mobile phone, Fr. Joachim illustrated the point of ‘activating’ the graces we have been given. He stated that the mobile phone is installed with various functions and applications that are needed for one to make the best use of the device, however, unless a person turns on the functions or applications, they wouldn’t be able to use them. Similarly, at baptism all the graces that is needed for us to answer the call to mission work is given to us. We therefore need not be afraid of being ill-equipped to evangelize but rather only need to tap into the supernatural graces given us at baptism to live our call to active mission work.
Fr. Joachim went on to say that mission work does not only mean doing great things, rather, quoting Mother Teresa of Calcutta, he said all we need to do is small things with great love. He further shared three practices that Jesus did when ministering to those around Him, that we can adopt in our missionary efforts:
Dare: Dare to love and reach out to others like Jesus did.
Inspire: Seek inspiration from the Lord to know what He is calling you to do. Time spent before the Blessed Sacrament is the best way to hear God’s voice and draw inspiration from Him.
Engage: Engage with those around you just as Jesus spent quality time with his friends and the people He encountered.
Putting together the first letter of each of the three words gives us the word DIE, which sums up what each Christian is called to do: to die to ourselves every day and follow Jesus. We are reminded of this in Scripture where Jesus says, “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)
Fr. Joachim ended his homily by reiterating Pope Francis’ message that in touching the poor, we are touching the flesh of Jesus who suffers with them. (by Kathlin Ambrose)
Fellowship
