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Joseph G. Mueller, S.J.
Assistant Professor
Theology
Web Posted: March 21, 2005
Someone on a mission always receives that mission from someone else. Trying to send oneself on a mission is like trying to lift oneself up by the bootstraps. This just won’t happen. It stands to reason, then, that we will appreciate the mission of Marquette better the more deeply we know just who it is that sends us to strive for the goals expressed in our university’s mission statement. Marquette’s mission as a Catholic school forms part of the mission received by the Church from Jesus. So just as his heavenly Father sent him into the world, Jesus sends the Church, including Marquette, into the world. During this week, Christians throughout the world hear again and celebrate together the pinnacle of Jesus’ achievement of that mission on earth in his unjust trial, torture, death, and resurrection. Jesus himself knew that these events would show the world who he really was, someone who came to serve as slaves do and not to be served by them. In dying like a slave naked in front of the whole world for love of that world, Jesus knew that he would show everyone the perfect image of the Father who sent him. As that Father sent him, so Jesus sends his followers. Thus, Marquette could find no better occasion to deepen its appreciation for its mission than this week leading up to Easter. The mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection is a divine mystery of loving human service defeating hatred, sin, ignorance of God, and death. If we stop this week for a long look at Jesus, we cannot fail to come away with deeper insight into Marquette’s mission, as well as an invitation to a more human and more divine commitment to it. Indeed, the root of Marquette’s mission is this Jesus who promises to accompany forever those who answer his call to pass through struggle and death to new life in order to serve God and the people who need God. If we can find something attractive about this call, Marquette’s mission can take root in us.
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