Mission, diversity and communion

The themes of mission, diversity and communion are inspirations from the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The passage from Deutero Isaiah tells of the anointing of the Persian Cyrus as an agent of God to defeat the Babylonians who held the Jews in captivity and set the stage for the return of the captives to Jerusalem. Frair Jude Winkler comments on the development of monotheism among the Israelites as they perceive that One God acts and accomplishes the Divine Mission through the actions of many peoples. The letter to the Thessalonians contains an early presentation of the “theological virtues”, faith, love and hope. Friar Jude expands how these graces are developed by work, labour and endurance. The beginning of the letter to the Thessalonians, Friar Jude notes, is marked by the use of the pronoun “we”. The notion of the communal nature of our mission to draw disciples to Christ is the meditation of Suzanne Guthrie as she is struck by the contrast of the sameness of the image on Caesar's coin and the uniqueness and diversity of nature and humanity. Giving God glory and honor is the method whereby Rev. Richard Gabuzda advises us to render unto God as Jesus cleverly turns the tables on those who try to entrap Him in the account from the Gospel of Matthew. Our daily lives bring us into encounters with civil authority and company policy which may be in conflict with labouring in love, working for faith and enduring in hope. In those times our communion with Jesus and His disciples will strengthen our resolve to attend to the Way.