Proclaiming the Gospel, the reason for the Church’s existence, is the essence of ministry, not only for those who dedicate their lives to missionary work, but for every Christian man and woman.
In his letter for World Mission Day, (October 20), Pope Francis wrote: “Missionary spirit is not only about geographical territories, but about peoples, cultures and individuals, because the “boundaries” of faith do not only cross places and human traditions, but the heart of each man and each woman.”
Mission is about widening the boundaries of faith. The center of the Church is Jesus, the missionary disciple is on the periphery, to the Holy Father. “That is why I like saying that the position of missionary disciples is not in the center but at the periphery: they live poised towards the peripheries… including the peripheries of eternity, in the encounter with Jesus Christ. In the preaching of the Gospel, to speak of ‘existential peripheries’ decentralizes things; as a rule, we are afraid to leave the center. The missionary disciple is someone ‘off center’: the centre is Jesus Christ, who calls us and sends us forth. The disciple is sent to the existential peripheries.”
Missionary activity is not about proselytizing, but, in the words of Pope Paul VI, is about “proposing to people’s consciences the truth of the Gospel and salvation in Jesus with clarity and respect for free options.” It is the joyful witness of our faith. In a world homogenized by instant communication and rapid transportation, the peripheries of the Church may well be in one’s neighborhood as well as in distant lands.
Addressing those who dedicate their lives to foreign missions the Pope wrote: “I am grateful especially to missionaries, to the Fidei Donum priests, men and women religious and lay faithful – more and more numerous – who by accepting the Lord’s call, leave their homeland to serve the Gospel in different lands and cultures.” Those who do so live the universal dimension of the Gospel mandate to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Mt 28, 19)
World Mission Day is the opportunity for God’s people who are scattered around the world, to reflect and pray together and offer a material contribution to meet the needs of evangelization and for the development of the young churches and those who, in various parts of the world, experience difficulty in openly professing their faith.
I urge you to respond generously.
This post is also available in/Esta entrada también está disponible en: Spanish