“There Can Be No Redemption Without Blood” (Hebrews 9:22)
Tonight, at the Palm Sunday Mass, a small band of missionaries will arrive at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in SoHo to initiate our 11th Holy Week mission. The weather early this week looks, for us, to be unusually good. Don’t let that fool you. There will be plenty of opportunities for sacrifice and perseverance as we hit the streets and joyfully break down the walls within which too many souls have trapped themselves.
The following excerpt from “The Missionary of Wall Street” is taken from its list of 10 attitudes that can help us all develop stronger missionary hearts. That list includes prayer, the sacrament of reconciliation, love, joy, humility, to name a few others. Fourth on the list is “Willingness to Embrace Suffering”:
“As human beings, we don’t like to suffer. We’re programmed to avoid pain at nearly all costs. But we all suffer at some point. It’s the human condition. So, while you certainly should do what you can to alleviate your suffering, you should also embrace it.
When suffering, if we listen with an open heart, we often can hear more clearly the voice of Christ within us. The good news is that on a street mission, there are many opportunities to suffer and in suffering, to hear His voice– all those cigars being put out in our foreheads!
I’m not sure why it is that we hear Jesus most clearly when we’re suffering, but it could be that in suffering we get a little closer to the heart of Jesus on the Cross. We feel His pain– in a small, small way to be sure– but we feel it nonetheless.
So, if you want to develop your missionary heart, the next time you’re suffering, embrace it.
Pray to Him.
And thank Him for letting you share His pain.”
Join us this week in Soho. Plenty of suffering in store! Along with Joy, Love, and the Holy Spirit.
A missionary
April 14, 2019
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