Fr Antonio Pineda
he Scriptures this Sunday are about announcing the Good News. They remind us that announcing the Good News of the Kingdom by words, deeds, and life is not the task of only a few. Rather, it is a task for all baptised Christians.
As faithful Christians, we should attract others to the faith by leading exemplary lives, just as a rose silently attracts people by its beauty and fragrance. This is our job and our responsibility. We must not miss the current opportunities to be apostles through our words and deeds in everyday life.
The story of St Philip Neri, who earned the title “Apostle of Rome” in the 16th century, is an example of the missionary zeal demanded by this Sunday’s Gospel. Philip came down to Rome in the early 1500s as an immigrant from Florence and a layman. When he arrived, he was horrified by the physical and moral devastation of the city. Rome had been sacked in 1527 by the Germans who had left much of the city in ruins. The Gospel wasn’t being preached, and many priests and cardinals were living in open defiance of Christ’s moral teachings.
Philip prayed to God to learn what he might do. He read the letters that St Francis Xavier had sent back to Europe from India, where he had been converting tens of thousands. Philip thought that God was calling him to follow St Francis Xavier to India, to give his life in proclaiming the Gospel. When he went to his spiritual director and told him what he thought God was asking of him, the wise old priest affirmed his desire to serve and bear witness to Christ. However, he told Philip to focus his attention on re-evangelizing those around him, declaring, “Rome is to be your India!”
This was quite a task for one man. But Philip, relying on God’s help, started — first as a layman, then as a priest — to convert Rome, one person at a time. He would cheerfully go to street corners and say, “Friends, when are we going to start to do good?” He developed various entertaining social and religious activities to give the people, especially the young people, better alternatives for their hearts and time than those offered by the debauched culture around them. His impact was enormous, and when he died in 1595, much of Rome had been reconverted.
The same God who spoke to Philip almost five hundred years ago challenges each one of us this Sunday through the Scriptures, “Your home and your family, your workplace and your parish are your mission field!”