Sunday, July 11, 2010 Fr. Brian Walker

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Why is it that at times in our lives we find ourselves looking down on other people? There are times when we look down on others, whether it’s because of our condition in life, whether it’s because of our education, whether it’s because we just feel a little bit more privileged than others. Sometimes we do react in the same way. And yet the question remains—just like this young man, who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor?

I stand here representing the Divine Word Missionaries, a missionary congregation founded in 1875 to go forth and to accompany people on their spiritual journey. One of the things that I do is I go around the country preaching parish missions. And one of the things that constantly comes up along the way is, people will come up and they will say, “Oh Father, that was very good but I have to tell you I don’t always go to church because I just feel like I can pray at home.” And I always look at them and I say, “I pray at home too. But it’s not enough just to pray at home.” We come together at times like this because we understand and realize that we are not alone in the world.

In our second reading we heard how God made everything, and made everything good. And if we truly believe that all things are made by God and all things are good, then we realize that every sister and brother that we come in contact with is truly our neighbor. Every person that we meet. And it was in that same way that we gather together because we realize that we are not alone. We have to share our ups and downs. We have to share our joys and sorrows with others knowing that we are not alone. That there are many who are experiencing the exact same thing that we go through. And we share faith together. We come together as a spiritual family.

Many years ago when I was in initial formation one of the things that we were told is that we had to go to the foreign missions. And I have to tell you I’m from Chicago. My name is Father Brian Walker and I come from Chicago. My parents are from Chicago and my grandparents are from Chicago. From kindergarten all the way through theology I went to school within a 10-mile radius of my home. So I didn’t have to travel anywhere. So when they said, “Well you have to consider going to another country”, I thought I’m in the wrong group. And I thought, where am I going to go? Then I remembered when I was in the college seminary they sent me to a parish way on the north side of Chicago and I worked in a predominately Puerto Rican parish. And I said, “Oh maybe I can go to Puerto Rico.” And the superior said, “That would be nice but we don’t have missions in Puerto Rico.” Then he said, “Well maybe we can send you to Bolivia.” And I thought, “Oh no, that’s too far away.” And then he said, “Well maybe we can send you to Ghana, West Africa.” I said, “Oh no, that’s much too far away.” And the name of the program was The Overseas Training Program. I said to him, “Well I know it’s not really overseas but could I go maybe to Mexico?” And he said, “Sure we’ll send you Mexico.”

So I packed my bags and I got on the plane. And I have to admit I was a little bit nervous. But as I got off the plane I saw familiar signs that made me feel at home, such as Coca-Cola, Marlboro, Bacardi, all of the things that makes one feel at home. But then I realized that there were things that were a little different. The culture, the language, the food, all very different, and all things that I had to learn.

And so after my initial study of the language I was told that I was going to be sent to the mountains of Southern Mexico in the state of Oaxaca. And I said, “Okay, but I have to tell you I’m one of those missionaries, kind of strange in that I get carsick.” And so the superior said, “Well what do you think we are going to do about that?” I said, “Well could I fly down to the mission instead of taking that 9-hour bus ride, I could take a nice hour flight?” And he said, “Okay.”

So I got on the plane, again with my bags in tow. Got down to where I thought the mission was. And as I got to the house they said, “Well we’ll be ready to go at 9:00 p.m.” And I thought 9:00 p.m. Kind of late. Well maybe it’s not that far away. So as I get there I walk outside, again with bags in tow and there’s a pickup truck. I thought, “Well this is strange way to go.” And there were about five of us. And they said, “Okay, climb in the back.” So I climbed in the back of the pickup truck. It was 9:00 and we traveled for 10-1/2 hours. And with every twist and turn, and every bounce less and less of my stomach stayed with me. And then to top it off it started to rain and the only thing that I had left was my alb. And I put my alb on. And so we got to a certain point and they said, “Well here we are.” And I looked around and I thought, “I don’t see anything.” And they said, “Well from here we have to walk.” So again with bags in tow we started walking. Three hours later we got to a village and I just thought, “Thank God.”

And then the said, “We’ll rest here for a while before we continue.” Then we rested a little bit and we started our journey again and two hours later we ended up in another village. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. But they said, “Here we are.” And I thought to myself, “How on earth did these people every find this place?”

But I spent two years in that mission. We had no electricity, no running water. We had no roads. But what we did have was faith. We shared faith. And I realized as a young missionary that I was not there to bring the Lord. The Lord was already there. I was arriving to share faith with my neighbor. I found out who my neighbors really were. Brothers and sisters sharing the faith throughout the world.

And as you sit here in this beautiful church, in air-conditioned comfort, there are those who are sitting in little huts praising the same God that you do. Worshiping and listening to the same readings. Knowing that our God is calling each and every one of us to discover who our neighbors are. Our planet is not as big as we think. We come together as a community of faith.

I represent the Divine Word Missionaries, a group of some 6600 men, priests and brothers, who go around the countries, around the entire world sharing faith with their neighbors everywhere. But it’s not always something that they can do alone. They need your help. I know that these are difficult economic times that we are all suffering. But at the same time if you are not able to give monetarily in our second collection today after Communion, I ask you to continue to pray. To pray for those who go throughout the world sharing their faith with their neighbors. And it matters not whether they’re Divine Word Missionaries, Dominicans, Redemptorists, whatever community it may be, that we gather as sisters and brothers to share our common goal, to reach our heavenly home.

One of the things that people used to ask me was, “Wow, that must have been a difficult experience. What did they pay you for that?” And I always told them as I left them with their mouths open, “I didn’t get a dime. It was just sharing faith. It was just sharing our lives. It was discovering who my neighbor truly is.”

Each of us is called. And we may not always be able to get on a plane and go to far away different countries, but we can be united with our sisters and brothers throughout the world in prayer. I ask you to continue to pray for those who share faith with others. And that there may be other young men and women who will be willing to find out who their neighbors are in distant lands and to pray and to worship with them.

Thank you for your time and consideration and especially for your prayers. God bless you. Amen.