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THE ENTIRE CHURCH IS MISSIONARY

Fr. Carlo Di Sopra, sx

Oct 16, 2017
584

World Mission Sunday

The entire Church is missionary, Pope Francis repeats also this year on the day dedicated to “MISSION”. The Church cannot think of and look at herself only because she is called to go out in order to offer the Good News to all. She cannot stand out  where she is, but she has to go out toward the ‘peripheries’, in an attitude of constant ‘exodus’.

Looking at the world today, we see that the ‘peripheries’ are so many, but, out of them all, the world mission day reminds us of one in particular, the periphery of those who have not encountered with the Lord yet and do not know the God of mercy of the Gospel.

For the Church, this periphery is also geographical as it requires that some of her members leave effectively their countries and really go to meet other cultures, and facilitate their encounter with the Gospel. These are the missionaries. They are sent from all the Churches, even the younger ones. Our Xaverian community in Sierra Leone is an example of this, since we are Filipinos, Indonesians, Congolese, Chadians, Cameroonians, Spaniards and Italians, all working together because of that love of Christ that impels us to go out…

Sometimes we may doubt: is it still so important to announce the Gospel and talk about God, when there are so many big problems around the world? Maybe we doubt because we think of God only in a spiritual way that can affect at most our inner and personal life. It is not like that: the Gospel creates a new culture, touches and affects all aspects of life, personal and communitarian, it can change politics and economics, if it is accepted and assimilated in the hearts of people. A sign of it is how much interest the Christians have shown throughout history for the most vulnerable people and how transforming their actions have been! How many concrete projects for education, for health, for the formation of leaders who can act with the same mind and attitude of Jesus. Pope Francis calls all these actions ‘processes of Resurrection’. He says that the Church is not called to proselytise, to look fanatically for new members, but to initiate these processes of resurrection everywhere in the world as the first commitment.

One of the most consoling realities in my years in Sierra Leone was the ordination of a Sierraleonian as a Xaverian, a clear sign that this young church has reached maturity, and the other is the new awareness of some fellow Catholics who recently came to this conclusion: ‘we have received so much from the mission and missionaries that now we want to join them in their task even with our financial  support’. Knowing how easy it is to talk, but how difficult to pull something out of the pocket, I consider this a very important step in the right direction, in the spirit of the mission Sunday.

World mission Sunday is finally a reminder for the youth. They are the future of the Church mission. Many young people dream of fulfilling their personal dreams. Still few are those who offer themselves to fulfil the dreams of God as expressed in the Gospel. A big “COURAGE!” to them.

World Mission Sunday

The entire Church is missionary, Pope Francis repeats also this year on the day dedicated to “MISSION”. The Church cannot think of and look at herself only because she is called to go out in order to offer the Good News to all. She cannot stand out  where she is, but she has to go out toward the ‘peripheries’, in an attitude of constant ‘exodus’.

Looking at the world today, we see that the ‘peripheries’ are so many, but, out of them all, the world mission day reminds us of one in particular, the periphery of those who have not encountered with the Lord yet and do not know the God of mercy of the Gospel.

For the Church, this periphery is also geographical as it requires that some of her members leave effectively their countries and really go to meet other cultures, and facilitate their encounter with the Gospel. These are the missionaries. They are sent from all the Churches, even the younger ones. Our Xaverian community in Sierra Leone is an example of this, since we are Filipinos, Indonesians, Congolese, Chadians, Cameroonians, Spaniards and Italians, all working together because of that love of Christ that impels us to go out…

Sometimes we may doubt: is it still so important to announce the Gospel and talk about God, when there are so many big problems around the world? Maybe we doubt because we think of God only in a spiritual way that can affect at most our inner and personal life. It is not like that: the Gospel creates a new culture, touches and affects all aspects of life, personal and communitarian, it can change politics and economics, if it is accepted and assimilated in the hearts of people. A sign of it is how much interest the Christians have shown throughout history for the most vulnerable people and how transforming their actions have been! How many concrete projects for education, for health, for the formation of leaders who can act with the same mind and attitude of Jesus. Pope Francis calls all these actions ‘processes of Resurrection’. He says that the Church is not called to proselytise, to look fanatically for new members, but to initiate these processes of resurrection everywhere in the world as the first commitment.

One of the most consoling realities in my years in Sierra Leone was the ordination of a Sierraleonian as a Xaverian, a clear sign that this young church has reached maturity, and the other is the new awareness of some fellow Catholics who recently came to this conclusion: ‘we have received so much from the mission and missionaries that now we want to join them in their task even with our financial  support’. Knowing how easy it is to talk, but how difficult to pull something out of the pocket, I consider this a very important step in the right direction, in the spirit of the mission Sunday.

World mission Sunday is finally a reminder for the youth. They are the future of the Church mission. Many young people dream of fulfilling their personal dreams. Still few are those who offer themselves to fulfil the dreams of God as expressed in the Gospel. A big “COURAGE!” to them.

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