Philip - The patron saint of the "Itinerant Mission"

The Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it, heard the Ethiopian reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah and asked him, "Do you truly understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.  (ref. Acts 8:26-40)

Philip, the evangelist travelled one of the busiest roads of the ancient world, from Gaza to Egypt.  There the Holy Spirit ordered him to approach an Ethiopian traveler returning home after worshipping in Jerusalem.  The Ethiopian was one of the many people disenchanted with loose morals and the worship of many gods in the ancient world, who sought the meaning of life in austere ethics and in the one God of Judaism.

"Nothing new under the sun", we could say in reference to the way people live nowadays; our world holds many similarities with the ancient world.  Those who say they are atheists or agnostics, are in fact worshipping many false gods, such as power, money, the multi-faceted pleasure, physical beauty and fitness etc.

After worshipping and configuring, for a while their lives to these realities, they start to feel the loss of their freedom become alienated ending up tasting nausea and emptiness. This is the  time when they need someone to show them the way to the one true God; the God of Joy, the God to whom alone you should pay tribute in order to really become free from all earthly affectations.

Very much like Philip, the heralds of today, if they want to hear the voice of the Spirit, to tell them where to go, whom to meet and what to say, they must place themselves at the crossroads of the lives of men and women of our time.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

Prayer of the Itinerant Mission

Our Lady of Consolata

Intercede for me

That the Holy Spirit may inspire me:

Where to go

Whom to meet

And what to say...

Lady of Good Counsel

Star of the Evangelization

Direct my path

So that I will announce Christ

And the consolation of His Gospel to all

Amen.

The core of this prayer was not penned by me. It was adapted from an English prayer given to me by a Polish-Canadian lady from Toronto whom I did not have the pleasure of meeting when I worked in that city.  I came to know her during a guided tour of the Missionary Exhibition that took place in Fatima from May to October 2012.

At the end of the tour, at the exhibition, I had the opportunity to speak with this lady about what brought her to Fatima, and how through her prayer her two sons came back to the faith and Christian way of life.  At the end of our conversation, she gave me a prayer card with Our Lady of Fatima on one side and a prayer on the other. 

Once at home, I read the prayer whose central message said:   Dear Mother, take me by your hand and tell me where to go, whom to see and what to say...  All of a sudden I realized that the lady could have been my Archangel Gabriel.  My encounter with her had been for me the equivalent to the Annunciation of Mary. It was a confirmation from above that I was on the right path and that the Itinerant Mission is what God wants for me here and now.

Where to Go - While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'...So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. (...) And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. (Acts 13:2,4; 20:22)

Whom to Meet - Then the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over to this chariot and join it.' So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah.  He asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' (Acts 8:29-30)

What to Say - When they bring  you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. (Mk. 13:11)

The Mission comes from God and is the property of God, first of the Father, then of the Son and now of the Holy Spirit. The Church, docile to the voice of the Holy Spirit, is merely a facilitator.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC