Even though
they aren't my absolute favorite genre as far as movies go, I do
enjoy from time to time watching a good spy or espionage type of
film. One group of movies that are a part of this genre are the
Mission Impossible
movies that are based off of the classic TV show by the same name.
I've never watched a whole episode of the TV series, but I have seen
a couple of the movies. The series and the movies are pretty much
about the same thing: a group of highly skilled agents work for a
U.S. government run agency. They are sent on various secret missions
around the world with an arsenal of high tech gadgets to help protect
the United States. These missions usually include spying and
espionage while stopping the bad guys from getting a hold of
sensitive information or carrying out terroristic threat. If you
enjoy this type of thing, it gets pretty exciting.
As
many of you know, the story line of the episodes and movies typically
starts with one of the agents seeming to having a regular day: going
to work, traveling, having lunch, et
cetera.
Someone who appears to be a complete stranger to the agent, comes up
and gives him an object. Many times the object looks fairly normal,
but the agent always knows that it contains an audio recording of his
next mission. The classic episodes have a mini tape player while the
more recent movies have a smart phone that plays the recording. The
recording gives some vital background to the mission followed by some
famous words: “Your mission, should you choose to accept it,
is...”. We then hear the actual mission goal which is quite
dangerous and, as the title suggests, sounding quite impossible.
Despite the danger and impossible nature of the mission, the agent
always accepts the mission. The message ends with another famous
phrase: “This message will self destruct in five seconds”. Then
the action begins, accompanied by the catchy theme music.
Today
we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. We recall how forty days
after His Resurrection, Jesus Ascended on a cloud up to Heaven. We
believe that He is in Heaven, body and soul. The Readings for today
actually give us two versions of the same story, which is rare. We
hear about it in our First Reading from Acts and then again from the
Gospel of Mark. Both accounts have their own unique way of telling
the story with different details. But the most important thing I
want to point out is that this is not the end of story. In both
accounts, Jesus gives clear instructions that the Apostles are to go
out beyond Jerusalem; “Throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends
of the earth” and “Proclaim the Gospel to every living creature”.
One does not have to be familiar with Mission
Impossible
to see that Jesus is sending the Apostles on a mission. I'm sure to
all of them, it seemed like a daunting, and dangerous, if not an
impossible, mission to spread the Good News of the Gospel to
everyplace on Earth. Yet if we continue reading the Acts of the
Apostles from where we left off, and if we go from there and read
through the lives of the saints, we will see that that is exactly
what happened. So many Apostles, and disciples, and prophets, and
bishops, and priests, and deacons, and married couples, and
catechists, and martyrs have all worked together to complete this
impossible mission!
We
are all a part of this mission as well. It is important that we
understand our role in all this. There might be a temptation to
think that we are not a part of this incredible mission. We might
think that we are not important enough in the eyes of God to merit
inclusion in this great adventure. You might say to yourself, I'm
just a father or a mother or a kid. I have an ordinary job, I take
care of the kids or the grandkids, I go to school, I go to Church on
Sunday or Saturday night, I volunteer at Church, I teach religious
ed, I help usher, I'm a knight, or I'm a member of St. Teresa's
Circle. I'm just a regular person, why would God send me on a
mission? The answer is, “BECAUSE YOU'RE EXACLTY WHO GOD IS LOOKING
FOR!!!”
God
called ordinary tax collectors and fishermen and other ordinary men
and women to be the first to go out and spread the Good News. Don't
be afraid that he is now calling you. This mission is not
impossible, because God is on our side.
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