Fr Gerry Hastie MHM, Vicar General of St Joseph’s Missionary Society, shares his refection on the theme for this year’s World Mission Sunday:

While serving in Uganda, there was an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in the local village. One of the villagers, Peter, who was already living with HIV, contracted TB and was sent to the local health centre. I went to visit him when the sun was still high in the cloudless sky and the unrelenting heat of the dry season was beating down. I found Peter lying on a mat under the shade of a tree, beside his son.

Simple acts of love

As I approached, I was shocked by Peter’s almost unrecognisable figure. His complexion was a sallow grey, and the bones in his hands appeared to be pushing through skin that seemed stretched too tightly over his emaciated body. I could not but help thinking that Peter didn’t have long to live and I felt myself already grieving for him and his loved ones.

Peter opened his eyes and looked at me. I smiled and as I went to sit down beside him, his son moved away to give us some space. We exchanged a few words, but the effort of speaking was too much for Peter, who needed what little energy he had for breathing: each breath seemed laboured and painful. After half-an-hour his son reappeared to take up his position by his father’s side once again. As I was leaving, I noticed the son wiping his dad’s face with a damp cloth – trying to keep him cool in the heat of the day.

A wonderful recovery

Three months later, I was standing outside when I saw Peter hobbling towards me, supported by a cane. He had finally been deemed fit to return home. We smiled at one another and, as Peter lowered himself into a chair, he asked me if I remembered the first time I visited him. Peter said that on that day, when he saw the look on my face, he knew that I thought he was on his way out. What kept him going, and gave him hope, was the presence of his son: each time he felt the damp cloth being pressed against his dry lips, or the towel wiping his face, or his son’s hand gently holding his own, then he knew – as he drifted in and out of consciousness – that he was still alive. He would then make the effort to take another breath; to keep going.

An enduring source of hope

This story came to mind when I reflected on the late Pope’s chosen theme for this year’s World Mission Sunday: ‘Missionaries of Hope Among all Peoples.’ How can we follow in the footsteps of Christ, our hope, ‘in a world over which dark shadows loom’? In the darkness of his pain and suffering, the enduring presence of his son became a source of hope and light for Peter: he was not alone, he was loved and cared for. Jesus continuously reached out to those who endured the darkness and pain of exclusion: the untouchable, the outcast, the public sinner, the poor and the sick. Through the presence of Jesus, the Son, these suffering people came to experience the enduring love of God, the Father: to know that they were not alone, they were loved and cared for.

God never abandons us

This is the hope that we carry: that in our own pain and darkness, God – like Peter’s faithful son – never abandons us, but holds us, healing our brokenness and providing water for our parched lips. And we, following in the footsteps of Jesus, are called to witness to this unquenchable love of the Father to all people; most especially to those in the darkness of pain and suffering. We are called to be signs of hope: to sit with, to stand in solidarity with, and to ensure that no one is made to feel excluded from his love.

I would like to thank the Red Box holders who, through your prayers and donations, have supported us Mill Hill Missionaries in our efforts to be messengers of hope to those on the margins of society and those in areas of conflict and persecution.

Our hope for the future!

This year we are blessed with ten new missionaries who, after ordination, will be sent out to Kenya, India, Malaysia, South Sudan, Cameroon, Uganda, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Please keep them in your prayers as they witness to the hope and new life they have encountered in Christ.