On this 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we are drawn closer to the end of our liturgical year, and will soon bid farewell to the current translation of the Sacramentary (soon to be called the Roman Missal) that we have prayed with for over 25 years. Also, the next-to-last Sunday each October, which happens to be today, is also designated by the Church as World Mission Sunday throughout the world.

One of my guilty pleasures when I have a day off, as I did on Columbus Day, is to have a cup of coffee while watching “The Today Show.” On last week’s program there was a short piece on braiding hair and how that’s one of the latest fads…for both women and men…and that braiding hair salons are popping up all over to accommodate the new market. Let’s see how successful I am at taking the strands of the Roman Missal, World Mission Sunday and the scripture readings and braiding them together for a today’s reflection!

Let’s begin with the strand of World Mission Sunday. The official Church uses this Sunday to raise our awareness and take an extra collection for what most would consider the traditional, or common understanding of the word “mission”: lay and religious women and men ministering and spreading the gospel in places we would rarely find ourselves.

What do you think of when you hear the word “mission?” In my youth, I automatically thought of mission in that traditional sense: taught to me in grade school and reinforced through reading “Treasure Chest,” a magazine we received on Friday afternoons in class (genius on the teacher’s part!), relaying stories of brave and faith-filled priests and sisters preaching and teaching the gospel in far-off places in the hope of converting and baptizing non-believers to Christianity.

When I entered this community as a young adult, I learned a different definition of “mission” as the word was used to describe the parish houses and schools where our community served, whether that be in Colorado, Waukegan the south side or Sauganash.

The message in today’s gospel pushes us to yet another meaning of mission. Loving God “with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind”; and, “loving your neighbor as yourself,” as the Jerome Biblical Commentary states, is not primarily about the feeling of love, but is about “covenant fidelity, a matter of willing and doing,” making it impossible to leave anyone out of the circle. The Pharisees are really asking Jesus to name the center of Israel’s law. And Jesus uses the opportunity to bring the two themes of the law of the covenant: God and neighbor, into one “greatest commandment.”

The first reading from Exodus is in sync today, as usual, with the gospel, giving us some pretty clear examples of what covenant fidelity looks like and our treatment of our neighbor the immigrant, our neighbor the elderly, our neighbor the poor, our neighbor the parentless and homeless youth.

I believe Jesus’ “neighbor,” however, goes beyond the marginal of our society. In the course of each day, how many people do we see/greet/meet, whether that be the person seated next to me in this chapel, the Sister sitting with me at table; the lay staff who serve and work with us; the co-workers we share office-space with; the young people passing through our corridors? These, too, are our neighbors. Do we love them as we love ourselves?

At the end of every mass, we’re used to hearing one of these forms of the dismissal rite: “Go in the peace of Christ,” or “The mass is ended, go in peace,” or “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” In a few weeks, our celebrants will be choosing from one of three new statements to send us, “mission” us, as it were, from the assembly to all those neighbors of ours: The first option, “Go forth, the mass is ended,” is to the point, but I don’t find it very inspiring; The second, “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord,” has a little more to it, but I worry it might give me permission, unconsciously, to be content with just saying the words and not putting them into practice; though a bit flowery, the third option, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life” would be my choice for today. Because, in essence, it’s another way of saying, “love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”