"We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites..."

I'm the Spiral Light Candle Corporation's gofer at the Catholic Marketing Network's trade show. I've put links to posts about my experience there, in another blog:

• "Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show"
  Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind

Most of my time's been spent at the booth, but I've had a chance to walk around the trade show floor. Some folks have been talking in Polish (I think), Spanish, and some languages I didn't recognize. There's a whole lot of English-language conversations, too, of course: the Catholic Marketing Network is mostly in America.

It's a Big Neighborhood

Jesus said that we should love God and love our neighbor. (Matthew 22:36-40) Which is easy enough, when the neighbors follow the same customs, eat the same food, and wear pretty much the same clothing as we do. For thousands of years now, the Catholic Church has been telling us that everyone is our neighbor:

• Bible
  • Matthew 5:43-44
  • Mark 12:28-31
  • Luke 10:25-30
• Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • 1825

Two Millennia on the Same Mission

After my Lord stopped being dead, He gave us a mission, and a promise:

" '...Go, therefore, ¹² and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. ¹³ And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.' "
(Matthew 28:19-20)

Related posts:

• "Local Parishes, Universal Church, and Living in Minnesota"
  (June 16, 2011)
• "Loving Neighbors: No Matter What"
  (May 10, 2011)
• "Neighbors, Charity, and What the Pope Said"
  (July 16, 2010)
• "Minnesota Bishops, Immigrants, Papers and Justice"
  (June 30, 2010)
• "Rules, the Catholic Church, Neighbors and Me"
  (June 18, 2010)