Carry the Cross: Mission Tradition

Many of us remember the days when, as Catholic school kids, Lent was a time to donate our spare change to worthwhile causes. And that was very appropriate in this penitential season as we deny ourselves and accompany our Lord on the road to Calvary.

Sadly, some of our old favorite charities seem to have lost their focus. Some have even gotten involved in tangential issues that seem more motivated by political fashion than true Christian caritas.

This Lent, the FSSP’s own Mission Tradition is giving all of us a special opportunity to Help Carry the Cross.  Like Simon of Cyrene, we can shoulder some of the burdens of our FSSP family not only here but also around the world, confident in Our Lord’s words that “as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.”

Throughout the season Mission Tradition is featuring special blog posts, photos, and updates from our missionary priests in Mexico, Colombia, and Nigeria. There you can learn about Fr. Heenan’s work preserving the Latin Mass in Guadalajara. You’ll hear Fr. Valenzuela’s account of his arrival at the Colombia mission and school. And we’ll hear from Fr. Van der Putten in Nigeria about building a church and working the farm that surrounds it.

If you feel called to give to Mission Tradition, know that the money will go directly to our poorest apostolates. Our missionary priests have to regularly deal with food availability, basic education, shelter, medical hardships, and other issues that we don’t see as much in the U.S. and Canada. But the spiritual battle is the same–to advance the Kingdom of God on earth with every weapon that the Church’s traditions give us, particularly the ancient but ever-new Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

We encourage you to visit Mission Tradition’s website and experience how the love of the ancient liturgy and the love of neighbor so harmoniously fuse in the FSSP’s mission apostolates.

It is understandable if some of us have become cynical and jaded in our almsgiving over the years, but Lent is a time to bring our minds back to the peoples around the world who still need our help. And just as importantly, our children must develop a love for almsgiving and charity–for their own spiritual good. Every opportunity we can give them to participate helps them become the generous, giving Christians that this broken world so desperately needs.

May God bless you and the missions of the FSSP.

March 18, 2022