Lk. 10 : 1-12, 17-20
Have anyone asked about your Christ experience?
Once I had the privilege of living with a great Salesian, who always dare to be different and known for his legendary missionary zeal. Our congregation has an educational institution in a country where the religious freedom is restricted to a great extent. Managing an educational institution in such a situation is really burdensome, and expenses difficult to meet. As a matter of fact the congregation thought of closing down this institution because of financial crisis. In my friendly chat with this Salesian, I shared with him my opinion that it is a good decision to close down this school so that we could avoid unnecessary troubles and financial struggles. All of a sudden this Salesian got annoyed with my opinion and told me that you people are thinking only about the profit and not about the witness one could give in that country. If the providence is ready to sustain our work then why we need to unnecessarily worry about our future?
All of us,are called to be his disciples and are also commissioned to give witness for his gospel and his love. In today’s gospel we see Jesus sent seventy of his disciples ahead of him to proclaim ‘the kingdom of God.’ Jesus gives clear instructions with regard to this mission: “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals, and greet no one along the way… ” Their only concern should be the proclamation of the kingdom of God. And we see that all came back rejoicing because they had performed miracles beyond their imagination and experienced the grace of what it means to be the witness of Christ.
As a Christian our prime responsibility should be to give witness to the gospel of Christ. There may be a tendency in us to lose our focus on the lesser important aspects and move away from being witnesses of Christ. Being a witness of Christ means living like Christ and loving like Christ. By seeing our love and witness people should say that we are his disciples. (Let the world know that you are my disciples by the love that you have for each other. (JN.13.35)
When we run social service centers or educational institutions, our main concern should be giving witness to Christ. If we are too much worried about profit than giving witness to Christ, without depending on the providence, and also neglecting the so called last, least and lost of the society then how can we consider our mission as an evangelization or rather building the kingdom of God? Do you think that world would recognize us as his disciples? Would there be any difference between secular management and Christian mission? Our service should not be evaluated on success or stature of our infrastructure but based on the fact that how much our service helps people to come in touch with the person of Christ and His love. Let us try to be fruitful than merely being successful. It is when we become his witnesses that our names will be written in heaven. Wherever we are let our life speak the story of Christ…
As for the educational institution I mentioned,it did not close down…. It remains as a witness that shares our Christ experience and his providence…