What motivated Paul and Barnabas to embark on their first missionary journey with all of its hazards and trials? They could have stayed in Antioch and built up the church there. The Book of Acts states: "While they were worshipping and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'." (Acts 13: 2) It is the Holy Spirit who directs the community and identifies the charisms and tasks of its members. This does not mean that the task will be easy because: " 'It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God'." (Acts 14: 20) This is because disciples of the Lord are not driven by earthly considerations but the hope of future glory: "Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Rev 21: 1-2) The motivation for a missionary disciples, both then and now, is that of love. It is the desire to share the Good News to all humanity. It speaks of a new way of loving which is only made possible by the Cross and the revelation of the resurrection. Jesus says: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn 13: 34-35) This love is in turn founded on gratitude since God, in Jesus Christ, has loved us so much first. This love gives us the impulse to share with others what we have come to know and to believe even when it seems that the world does not want to know. "For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them." (2 Cor 5: 14-15)
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