Catholic Men of Christian Missions

The Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad, widely noted for his active missionary work in witness to Christ, has been a keen friend of mine as well as many others across Egypt, the Sudan, France, Hungary, Canada, the United States, Lebanon, and Israel. Those familiar with his style may wish to recall his fiery homily at Pentecost in France in 2017 (here in French). In this homily, Fr. Henri Boulad challenged the current political and ecclesial authorities for their support of the so called "Islamo-phobia" and argued that Christianity was at the root of Europe's civilization. Examples that lend credence to his view abound in reading the martyrdom of St. Peter and that of St. Paul and following them the testimonies and giant works of such saints as Ireaneaus Bishop of Lyon, the Biblical scholar St. Jerome, the evangelization ushered by Pope St. Gregory the Great, and the Battle of Tours in 732 where Charles Martel defeated the Muslim forces of the Ummayad Caliphate led by Abdul-Rahman Al-Ghafiqi from Andalusia. It ushered the Carolingian empire which in turn established a Christian presence all over Europe.
When a few days ago I informed Fr. Henri Boulad of my sickness, he promptly replied that he will offer a Mass for my intentions and implore the Lord and his mother our Lady to bring me health and solace...
But in his homily on January 5, 2020, Fr. Henri Boulad uttered yet another deep thought about time. He recalled January 5, 1942 when he was only eleven years old. He felt how the year passes quickly and is replaced by another new year. He then compared two measures of time: chronological and eternal. Chronological passes while eternal does not pass...It is the difference between Kronos and timeless Kairos. When as a student you are bored by a teacher, you wish time will pass. When you watch a movie that you love or read a book that you like, you feel no time. You are in eternity...He asked, "What would I do in 2020 ? - A few years ago we thought 2020 was very far, and here I am almost 89 years old in 2020. But I know what to do - I will focus everyday on the Eternal. I will live in the moment..." He reminded us of one of his early books in French titled "Man and the Mystery of Time"...And I thought of the great martyrs that only wanted to be with Christ...As much as they loved their lives here, they found in Christ alone their eternal joy. Fr. Boulad continues his mission everyday wherever he is; for he lives in Eternity with Christ! 

One of the most widely-known Catholic missionaries is Bishop Robert Barron whose program for evangelization has awakened many sleeping souls. You may wish to listen to his lecture in October 2019 from Oxford University: “Newman and the New Evangelization” published here. Sending his fellow Congress Americans on a mission, Bishop Barron addressed them in November 2019 at the Library of Congress. Follow him in his evangelization here. In talks with one of his students, Bishop Barron spoke in a charismatic way about the Church Fathers here and here in January 2020. He spoke of the great martyr Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna who was a follower of John the Apostle, Justin Martyr, St. Athanasius the Great of Egypt and hero of the Nicene Council and St. Basil who continued the philosophical and theological battle against the Semi-Arians in the empire, saints Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom and Maximus Confessor who all influenced the development of Christian thought in the West.

On Thursday January 9, 2020, the TV Mass (here), watched by thousands in Canada an abroad, was celebrated by Msgr. Robert Nusca, a well-known Biblical scholar and pastor of Holy Rosary parish in Toronto. In his homily Msgr. Nusca spoke of the Gospel according to St. Luke in which Luke draws our attention to the voice of heaven in Jesus words and works of miracles and in his Spirit at Pentecost from which the Church grew and continues to preach Christ to a world that is today estranged from the Word of God, and is actively destroying the value of the human person from conception to natural death, and dividing families...In a powerful note to the New Jerusalem that will descend from heaven, Msgr. Nusca reminds us of the Book of Revelation in which the visionary gives hope to Christ's followers at the end of the world (Revelation 21). He there quotes Saint Ephraim of Syria, a Doctor and Father of the Church: Grant O Lord that we may hasten to our true city and like Moses on the mountaintop, we may possess it now in vision...
May this 2020 be a blessing in Christ for all through the intercession of his mother the Virgin Mary...