In my last Youth For Christ Conference (which was held in Davao), Coca-Cola was the brand of the day. There was a speaker who likened the Church's mission to that of someone who is endorsing Coke to someone else. That's exactly what we were supposed to do, says the speaker. In our case, the Coke was Jesus Christ and our mission was to give someone the taste of JC. "Patikim lang". Give them the taste. If they don't like it, then okay. If they do like it, then good.
Nowadays, that parallelism is taking a whole new meaning, or so I think. As far as I'm concerned, that simple exhortation is a call to be a witness for Christ, to be a face of God to others, to be the harbinger of the Kingdom to the rest of the world.
Contrast this with the recent history of the Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole. Then, whenever you say "missionary", it simply points out to someone who goes to a foreign land to convert some natives to the Christian faith. The primary goal of such an exercise was proselytizing others into the fold.
Today, in this new world characterized by a plurality of religions, the term "missionary" has taken on an undoubtedly richer meaning. To be a missionary is to be a Christian in all sense of the word; to be a missionary is to love and serve others. In this new definition, we therefore can now make sense why a lot of missionary volunteers are into social development projects like building schools, feeding children, uplifting entire communities. Yes, they won't be converting anyone to the faith with what they're doing but, come to think of it, what they're after clearly transcends that goal. They are bringing God into the world and such an undertaking definitely surpasses in significance any attempt to proselytize.
That's totally different from the earlier picture of a missionary and this only shows how far Christian thought has progressed over the centuries. We are celebrating, not condemning, the many revelations of the Divine inherent in the religious traditions practiced by others. And we, in turn, are being blessed by this act of dialogue through a deeper understanding of God. This response is all the more appropriate, considering that intolerance, indifference, and hate are fast spawning in many parts of the world.
Let's hear it out: "Ipapatikim ko sa iyo ang Diyos ko". Let my life be a blessing to you. Amen.
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