Called to Mission

St. Therese of Calcutta once said: “The more we receive in our interior selves, the more we are able to give in our exterior lives.” In this article, Monsignor Bonifacio Burlaza shares a short and personal recollection of his having been a missionary to the West Indies and beautifully reminds us what it truly means to be called to mission.

“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentile the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3: 8).

However, in the Church according to Vatican Council II – LUMEN GENTIUM and AD GENTES, there are two kinds of MISSIONS, namely: MISSIO AD INTRA (Mission within) and MISSIO AD EXTRA (Mission outside).

Now, the MISSIO AD INTRA (LUMEN GENTIUM) is the common mission of every baptized Catholic because each one becomes a priest, meaning prayerful in all aspects of life, prophetic by teaching as an example in daily life to others, and kingly, by being helpful spiritually to others, because by exercising them daily, the Catholic Christians can see God in others. In practicing these three functions in life, the baptized Catholic is not wasting his time and efforts for the Kingdom of God. What we are after of is the effect of practicing a life-long of Christian fellowship with God and the Holy Spirit. “Lux luceat hominibus” — “Let your light shine before men,” says Jesus (Matthew 5:6).

While on the other hand, the MISSIO AD EXTRA (AD GENTES) as St. Paul says, means that he was given the grace to evangelize the peoples (Ad Gentes) or nations. This MISSIO AD GENTES has its purpose to make known to those people who do not know Christ or may have known Christ “the mystery hidden for ages in God” (Eph. 3:9), so that, as St. Paul says, “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17). So that you may “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3: 17) but they are like the four types of ground where the good seeds fell. Besides, this is the time to also evangelize our cultures as cultures can become the source of holiness and sanctifications.

In the year 2005, MISSIO AD EXTRA (Outside) was presented to me by then Archbishop Fernando R. Capalla. D.D., one of the five mission posts. I accepted the invitation of then Archbishop Kelvin Felix, D.D., of Castries, Santa Lucia, West Indies. I was in this Archdiocese from August 2005 – May 2015.

The following account is done in Cebuano to make our readers understand really my feelings as a MISSIONER AD EXTRA.

“Ang kinabuhi sa usa ka misyonero matawag nga HAPPY (malipayon) and SAD (masulub-on). HAPPY: Tungod kay ang mga molupyo o mga tawo sa maong lugar malipayon kaayong modawat sa Misyonaryo sa iyang pagkatawo or in his person. Kon ang maong misyonero always opens his life to the people without reserve, the local people will love him. He should NOT bring his own culture as a Filipino and impose on to the local people. Otherwise he will regret, local people will not like it.

On the other hand, SAD: kay ang uban tawo nagtoo man nga ang Missionero usa ka OFW or Oversea Filipino Workers, ug siya kwartahan. And wala lang nila masabti nga ang kinabuhi sa mga molupyo sa maong lugar. LISOD KAAYO TUNGOD KAY MOADJUST SIYA SA KINABUHI SA MGA MOLUPYO SA MAONG LUGAR. UG STRONG USAB KAAYO ANG DISCRIMINATION bisan lain lang ilang kultura. Bisan kon educated ka kayo sa lugar nga imong gigikanan (origin) ug sa maong lugar, testingan ka nila. Bisan ako mismo nga maayo na mosulti’g English, pero alang kanila kulang pa. Unless kon mosuno ka sa ilang sinultihan ug mao tong pag-abot nako from the Mission, slang akong sinultihan.”

In CONCLUSION. The Church has to fulfill the Lord’s commissioning from the Apostles and to us now because the Diocese that is NOT a Missionary is a DEAD Diocese; a parish that is NOT a Missionary is a dead parish, and likewise, a Catholic Christian who is NOT a missionary AD INTRA is a dead Christian.

LET US BE MISSIONARIES IN SPIRIT AND ATTITUDE! (Msgr. Bonifacio Burlaza)

(Msgr. Bonifacio Burlaza earned his PhD in Biblical Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, another Doctorate degree in Psychotherapy in Pennsylvania, USA and a Diplomate in Canon Law in Trinidad and Tobago. From 2006-2015 he did mission work in the Castries, St. Lucia, Caribbean Region in the West Indies. He is now happily retired.)