As Kyle mentioned, the day we worked with the CFRs, we also sang Christmas carols as we traveled from Rockefeller Center to Catholic Underground on East 90th between 2nd and 3rd. It was fun and we received compliments as we walked. I was a little iffy about singing on the subway, though. Having ridden the subway many times and knowing people that do it on a regular basis, I thought it might be considered a little rude and therefore not received as well as it was on the street, where we were merely passing people by. Without reservation, however, Matthew struck up “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and the rest of our group sang along. It was fantastic. I looked around, and no one seemed to mind. In fact, some people were smiling and singing along. We even took requests!
One part of being a missionary is having no fear. You put everything into the Lord, expressing His joy always and everywhere, even on a subway where you think it won’t go over well. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 1:5-7…
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak."
This verse echoes often in my heart and says so much. For one, it speaks of God having something specific in mind when He creates each of us. We were each made for a purpose with a path – if we choose to embrace it. Another aspect of this verse is about not being afraid, not letting our own insecurities hold us back from our calling and His mission. Finally, it talks about being sent. The thing about being a missionary is that it’s a full-time vocation. It is not restricted to big trips to foreign places; it is as constant as breathing. Wherever He sends each of us – a jungle village in Ecuador, a metropolis in New York, a college campus in Garden City – a missionary lives and dies to serve the Lord, spreading His Word, love, peace, and joy at all times.
There is plenty more that can be said about being a missionary and what it means to have a missionary heart. It can be summed up quite beautifully in the prayer of Mother Teresa…
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance
everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly
that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through us and be so in us
that every soul we come in contact with
may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from you.
None of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best
by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching,
not by words, but by our example;
by the catching force -
the sympathetic influence of what we do,
the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you.
Amen.
Please continue to pray for us, and perhaps pray this prayer specifically, that we all might embrace the missionary heart wherever His mission takes us, which is wherever we are.
-KK Lukasavage
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