Why Missions….

by Marilyn Henry, SOS BOD member (First Printed in Servant News: 4Q/2014)

If I had to describe the one reason that I continue to be involved in Mission, I would have to say it’s because I’m selfish.

Sure, our faith calls us to live out our baptismal vocation, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations... Matthew 28:19, but what did that mean to me, a Texas transplant who thought missionary work was something someone else did, and certainly, not something Catholics do?

It meant leaving the comfort of the pew, traveling to the highlands of Guatemala, more than 15 times now, to encounter our Maya brothers and sisters face-to-face and heart-to-heart, and each time getting back way more than I give.

Speaking to an audience at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Pope Francis called for participants to cast aside clericalism and to get out of their churches to serve people where they are. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI called the entire Catholic Church into a new missionary age.

In June of 2015, I intend to be selfish again. Please join us as we answer the call of re-evangelization for our church and the call to re-energize our faith through mission.

(As of April 2021, Marilyn has been “selfish” for more than 20 mission trips in Guatemala!)