October is Mission Month in the Catholic Church, traditionally a time for prayer, reflection and support for missionaries who minister in far-off and often remote places. It is a time when guest speakers sometimes come to our churches to share stories of living alongside some of the poorest people in the world, providing vital healthcare, education and social services and, through their presence and service, sharing the Good News that God loves them.<\/p>\n
I always wanted to be a missionary. I think it was partly because we used to get the Far East<\/em> magazine in school. I remember looking in admiration at the photographs of Sisters riding bicycles, with a smiling child perched in the front basket and a shoeless toddler sitting on the crossbar. I remember thinking that this was really God\u2019s work \u2013 this was exactly what Jesus would be doing. I admired their courage and commitment and, if I\u2019m honest, envied them a little.<\/p>\n Apart from a few overseas service trips when I was in college, I never got very far with that dream. I still listen intently when advertisements for Tr\u00f3caire, GOAL or MSF come on the radio following an emergency, promising myself that someday I will be the one to go and help.<\/p>\n But these days, my missionary work is largely confined to the rural community where I live and work. And I have come to realise that, within the fifteen kilometres between my home, my classroom and the GAA pitch, there is more than enough mission territory. Because while it may not seem as urgent or dramatic as the situations we hear about overseas, there is still a great need for God\u2019s love right here in my own corner of the world.<\/p>\n Every day in school, there are children who need to be reminded that there is love and goodness in the world. Sometimes that means helping a child who has lost their coat and taking a walk around the yard with them to find it. Sometimes it means listening to a child who feels excluded by the people they thought were their friends. Sometimes it is simply noticing the child who needs an extra smile, a little encouragement or a reminder that they matter.<\/p>\n I have a statue of Mary in my classroom that the children often \u2018high-five\u2019 as they leave. They know that I am a person of faith \u2013 sometimes, rather embarrassingly, referring to me as \u2018The Holy One\u2019 \u2013 and every now and then a child will appear at my door to show me a religious bracelet or a set of Rosary beads they received from a family member. These may seem like tiny moments, but perhaps mission is often found in such moments: quietly reminding children that faith is something real, something lived and something that can bring joy.<\/p>\n At home, too, there is plenty of missionary work to be done. Keeping enthusiasm for family prayer when my preteen is asking if he really has to join in can be a challenge. Even the youngest can question whether she \u2018really has to\u2019 go to Mass. There are conversations about looking out for those who might be left on the margins of the classroom, and reminders that kindness is not just something we talk about but something we do.<\/p>\n These are the \u2018bits and pieces\u2019 of my missionary life these days.<\/p>\n It can be difficult to fly the flag of faith in an increasingly secular Ireland and to live out my own baptismal call with confidence. Sometimes I have to smile and ignore the gentle teasing from colleagues when I mention my faith, or answer with a smile when someone asks, \u2018Do you really still go to Mass every week?\u2019 It isn\u2019t bringing the Good News to the developing world. It is simply reminding the people around me that the Good News is here too.<\/p>\n Perhaps that is something worth remembering this Mission Month. We can sometimes imagine mission as something that happens somewhere else, to people far away, in places we may never see. But Jesus didn\u2019t ask us to love only those who live far from us. Our mission begins wherever we are.<\/p>\n So this October, I will rededicate myself to my missionary life \u2013 not somewhere far away, but right here. In my classroom. In my home. On the GAA pitch. In the small encounters that make up an ordinary day. I will try to bring the love of God to the people I meet, to point them, however quietly, towards the Source of All Love. In school, we will take part in GOAL\u2019s Jersey Day, and I will remind the children who help me count the pennies just how much those pennies can mean to someone else.<\/p>\n Yes, I may never have become the missionary I once imagined I would be. But perhaps I have learned that mission territory is all around me. And this October, I will try to be a missionary exactly where I am.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" October is Mission Month in the Catholic Church, traditionally a time for prayer, reflection and support for missionaries who minister in far-off and often remote places. It is a time when guest speakers sometimes come to our churches to share stories of living alongside some of the poorest people in the world, providing vital healthcare, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":996,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/996"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20226,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20225\/revisions\/20226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}