psalm 96: the missionary psalm - thursday 3rd week

Again, since we are celebrating today the feast of the disciples of Paul, our responsorial psalm, psalm 96 is another of the so called Missionary Hymn.  It is a missionary psalm because it expresses its desire to see all the earth, all the nations singing praises to God. "Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.  Give to the LORD, you families of nations, give to the LORD glory and praise." The good news must be preached to the nations, the gospel must be heard in order that all men and women all over the world will one day come to gather with us and sing the praises of the one true God.

We need to recover our missionary spirit.  I remember when I was a little boy here in Assumption, October was really celebrated as the month of the missions.  We passed around mission envelopes and we even competed among sections as to who could raise the highest collection.  I could not remember anymore how much of my allowance I gave for the missions then, but I do remember very well when Mother Blanca gave us those colored rosaries – each decade was of a different color to represent a particular race – the white, the yellow, the brown, the black and what else.  It raised our consciousness to this duty, this obligation for the missions as an essential component of our faith life, an essential duty of every Christian.  Psalm 96 exhorts us, "Tell his glory among the nations!"   We need to recover our missionary spirit.