23rd October 2011 - Mission Sunday 2011 - "Together in Faith"

On this weeks show we have our regular prayer space, an interview with Sr Sarah Hogan to mark Mission Sunday about her time in Australia, our regular gospel reflection and saints of the week.

Podcast of the show is now available.

Mission Sunday - Sr Sarah Hogan

Source: Kandle.ie

Continuing on with our coverage of Mission Sunday which falls this year on October 23rd. The theme of the Mission Sunday is "Together in Faith". The focus of this togetherness is on the newly independent Republic of South Sudan and our poster shows, catechist Pio Lokuru Kodee from Kapoeta, Torit Diocese in South Sudan. Pio has been an inspiration to his people and has also been a teacher to our missionaries. He has survived imprisonment and torture - with his people telling the army they couldn't kill him because "he was a man of God". The good news has brought life and hope to Pio and his community even as they have had to suffer for their faith over the years due to the political situation in Sudan. In his message for Mission Sunday this year, Pope Benedict XVI, wrote, "Missionary activity renews the Church, revitalizes faith and Christian identity, and offers fresh enthusiasm and new incentive. Faith is strengthened when it is given to others!" And he goes on to add, "It is in commitment to the Church's universal mission that the new evangelization of Christian peoples will find inspiration and support".

We have an interview this week with Sr Sarah who is a member of the congregation of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (Josephites or Brown Joey's) which was founded by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. She tells us of her formation as a sister and how she then travelled onto Australia to work on the mission. She reflects on her mission and her work with the Aboreginals but also what it means for all baptised to be missionaries for Christ.

Gospel - Matthew 9:1-8

Source: Pickleloaf.com

This weeks gospel is not the regular gospel for the Sunday of the year, but rather that chosen for Mission Sunday.In the gospel, we see the people follow Jesus and bring him a paralytic. He tells the man that his sins are forgiven and the scribes attack him. But the encounter reminds us that the love of God, the forgiveness and the healing of God are always available to us. It is the Mission of the Church to bring this healing, forgiveness and love to all people through knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The theme of Mission Sunday 2011 is "Together in Faith" with the focus in the gospel on the friends of the paralytic who bring him to Jesus in faith for Jesus to cure him. Are we those friends for our families and neighbours? Are we those supporting friends for the young church's and the persecutecd church's around the world?

Timothy Radcliffe has made the observation that poverty and being poor is so different from one society to another, depending on the nature of family ties, the type of economy and the social supports available. He has observed that poverty is not just an economic condition, the lack of food and clothing and employment. For many what it means is a terrible life of just surviving from day to day, meal to meal; where every day is almost a violent struggle to exist, where there appears to be no hope for people and they have given up trying to overcome the boredom, the insecurity and the dependence. The scandal of poverty is that it rips apart what Christ has made one. It tears apart the human family. It alienates us from our sisters and brothers. Lazarus at the door of the rich man’s house is not merely excluded from sharing his food but from sitting at his table as his brother. When you pray the creed this week, can you truly pray for one holy, catholic and apostolic church if your brother and sister is in poverty and want?

Saints of the Week

October 24th - St Anthony Claret
October 25th - Blessed Thaddeus MacCarthy
October 26th - St Cuthbert of Canterbury
October 27th - St Otteran
October 28th - Ss Simon and Jude - Apostles
October 29th - St Colman