SOUL SEARCH

Homily for the Send-Off Mass

Fr. Guy Guibelondo, S.J.

Posted Saturday, 29-Oct-2005 10:02 AM

      We hear Jesus choosing his apostles: James and John and Philip and Matthew and Simon and sending them off with a mission to preach the Gospel, to tell the world what they have known about the Good News. They were twelve. The apostles were to expect adversities as well as enjoy the hospitality offered to them. The disciples were to behave in a specific way so that when people see them, the people will glorify the One – Jesus who sent them. They were the means to spread the Gospel and their changed lives were the message. They were to travel light and carry only what they need.

      The gospel reading today couldn’t be more than appropriate.

      We have gathered here today to send off sixty of our Grade 7 students to Xiamen , China . And they too have been named: Francis and Jus and Martin and Vito (and if we’ll mention everyone, we will not be able to catch our plane!) There are twelve in each group. And they too have a mission - to learn through an intensive language study and culture immersion program to introduce them to an understanding of their roots and hopefully chart their future. This group of young men has not been told but is expecting adversities – they will have to learn to wash their clothes and take care of themselves with very little supervision. They are to behave in a certain way, the way Xaverians give honor to their parents and their school and their God. They are to travel light – 20 kilograms for check-in and 7 kilograms for hand carry. (Some of the luggage I saw yesterday looked heavier than the harassed parents dragging them.)

      But one thing is for sure, this will bring good news for all of us. Good news because we will have experienced first hand that there will always be times when we have to move away from the familiar and the comfortable and even sacrifice to learn better. Good news because this experience will expose us to the “other realities” of life, i.e., appreciating people more when they are not around, giving value to what we have been enjoying all along because of its absence, exposing us to new life situation where we will all have to trust, more than we’re used to. The parents trust the school and their sons, the school trusts the students and the program, and the students hopefully will learn to trust their teachers and supervisors, each other and themselves. Trust, believe and give. I’ve seen generous parents not only share their resources but also their time to prepare for the XCE, not only for their sons but for their groups as well.

      And I pray we will be much better for this. My prayer is that the Xiamen 60 and our young men here will not only be better in SMIT and ELCA and KKFil and CLE. My prayer is not only that they become better in Mandarin language and calligraphy and martial arts and laundry, but they will also come back better sons and brothers and friends. This experience will, in the end, hopefully allow us to shine as we should, and be better, as parents, supervisors and teachers and friends in the Lord, whether we are in Xiamen or here in the country.

      The message which the apostles were sent to proclaim is the same message which all of us are asked to proclaim, and that we are to proclaim in the best way we know – it is proclaiming God through the lives that we live. And that is true for you and you and you.