Each of us has been called into mission. Christ gives us the method: “Come and see” (Jn 1:46), “Follow me” (Mt 9:9), “Remain in me” (Jn 15:4), and “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). The method includes encounter, accompany, community, and send. This method is formation for missionary discipleship. It leads the believer to become a disciple and from there for the disciple to become a missionary. (UCCB.org)
I asked my son Primo, a NET Ministries alum, to define mission through his lens. As a mother of five and four have a disability, I feel challenged at times with the mission I have been given but after reading Primo’s explanation it is clear that I am built for this. Each day, I put on my armor of advocacy and step forward. With Primo’s permission, I am sharing with you, his response. Dust off your armor and prepare to march on!
Extraordinary Mission of Living ~ Primo Averion
And so therefore we have been bestowed with an extraordinary task, a task so great and so fierce that it will not only reshape the way we experience the world. But moreover, this task will shape eternity and our infinite future. Our task is the Extraordinary Mission of Living.
We find ourselves in the midst of finding what it means to live in a year dedicated to mission, but what does this mean? We must first look at what or who we are missioning to. Our target is the world. Right now, the world is entrapped in a culture of death, as it has been for 2,000 years and beyond that. This war we find ourselves in has been waging itself for the entire existence of sin and death across humanity. How do you combat death? You live. Jesus instructs us and shows us how me must live, how we embrace the spirit of Easter and what is to become of us after we die ourselves. He is the Lord and the Giver of Life, and our lives belong to him. Therefore, we must take up the mission of living in his name. Unafraid of death, unafraid of what sacrifice we must make to live in his name. Living in the light of Christ means that we follow his way, of dying to ourselves, our passions, our desires, and our hopes in being God and lord over our lives and freely give our lives just as he did. This does not mean that we live as solely obedient servants of an overlord, but that we live in a communion with one another and our God who is the embodiment of communion. Just as our God is one in three persons a divine mystery, so too are we called to participate and live within this mystery. We live when we shall live, we die when we shall die, and we are resurrected when are to be resurrected. Our mission of living is a mission of living in communion.
We must find ourselves in the same balance that God intends for us. As Catholics we are to be moderate in the world’s eyes, which in and of itself compared to the world is a radical lifestyle. To sit and not Judge, but rather to love one another and to love ourselves in the process, honoring all of God’s creation, because of our Love for him. To be moderate means in this case to find a balance of giving and receiving. Participating in programs where we intentionally form ourselves, our families, our friends. Where we pour ourselves out into the communities we live in and those we do not readily bring to the forefront of our minds. To be a missionary in this context is to live in accordance with Kenosis “Rather than dreaming himself as God’s equal, Jesus did not grasp at equality with God, rather he emptied himself.” As missionaries we are called to a life of attainable vibrancy, meaning we must find the balance of giving and receiving and growing all at once. This is not the sole responsibility of ourselves but in living in communion with one another we bring others into the mission with us.
God gives us Nature as a clear example of how he intends for life to happen. If you look at a tall tree in a forest, you will see animals living within the branches of the tree, smaller plants sprouting and growing beneath the branches of the tree, the plants that need just the right amount of sunlight and water receive their share. The dead things that fall are decomposed to become soil and fertilizer for new life. You can even see fungi and other microorganisms living off of one another. Every living thing has it’s intended purpose; do you think God would forget about you? You are not so special to be forgotten about. Therefore, we must take this time to find what our purpose for mission is, what is the one thing we can begin to do that will show us how to give and receive and participate in this communion of mission. To take up the Extraordinary Mission of Living.
