Pope: without the joy of the
Gospel one cannot be a missionary
 |
| Proclaiming the joy of the Gospel |
Pope Francis on 30 September met representatives of
missionary congregations of Italian origin and urged them to go out and
joyfully proclaim the Gospel of Jesus who attracts.
By Robin Gomes
Pope Francis on Monday encouraged missionary congregations
of Italian origin to keep alive in the people of God the awareness of being
fundamentally "outgoing", that is, sent to bring to all nations the
blessing of God who is Jesus Christ.
Going out
“May your Institutes collaborate more and more with the
particular Churches in order to foster an increased awareness of the “missio ad
gentes” (mission to other peoples) and take up again with renewed fervour the
missionary transformation of the Church’s life and pastoral activity,” the Pope
told some 70 men and women religious of the Comboni, Consolata, PIME and
Xaverian congregations.
The heads of these congregations met the Pope on the eve of
the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019 that he instituted in
October 2017, to commemorate 100 years of the Apostolic Letter “Maximum Illud”
of Pope Benedict XV, that sought to give a new impetus to the Church’s
missionary mandate of proclaiming the Gospel. The theme of the month
is “Baptized and sent out”.
At a time when everything seemed to lead to the preservation
of the existing, the Pope noted, their founders, on the contrary, became the
protagonists of a new momentum towards the other and those far away. The
Church exists on the road, he said. "On the couch, there is no
Church."
Mysticism of total self-giving
The Pope said it is necessary to rediscover the mysticism of
mission in all its fascinating beauty, and a thirst for communion with Christ
through witness, which their founders experienced, leading them to give
themselves totally. This mysticism, he said, always retains its
extraordinary power.
The Holy Father said he was struck by their pledge of being
missionaries “sent to other peoples, outside their country of origin, and for
life” without any sense triumphalism but welcoming it as an opportunity for
discernment, conversion and renewal.
The Pope thanked the missionary men and women congregations
for their dedication to their vocation of “missio ad gentes”, which, he
said, is inseparably ecclesial because it is rooted in baptism, and linked to
their rich charisms that the Lord has called them to.
“Help to keep alive in the people of God the awareness of
being fundamentally "outgoing", sent to bring to all nations the
blessing of God who is Jesus Christ,” the Pope urged. By collaborating
among themselves, he said, missionary congregations also help the people
remember that mission is not the work of individuals, of "solitary
champions", but is communitarian, fraternal and shared.
Mission - a two-way traffic
The Pope said that mission is not a “one-way” traffic from
Europe to the rest of the world but thrives on exchange. Territories that
once received missionaries are today producing the majority of priests and
religious in the Church. This, he said, arouses a sense of gratitude
towards the holy evangelizers who with great sacrifices sowed in those
lands. It is also a challenge for communion and formation for the
Churches and for congregations, trusting in the Holy Spirit who is Master in
harmonizing differences.
In this regard, Pope Francis recalled that General
Congregation of the Jesuits in 1974, where someone asked if they could have an
Indian or an African as Jesuit general. But those days, the Pope pointed
out, a general had to be a European. “Today many religious congregations
have superiors general from those lands,” he said, noting there is a Latin
American Jesuit general today. “The thing has been reversed: what in 1974 was
utopia, is a reality today,” he said.
Joy of the Gospel
He told the men and women missionaries that by leaving
behind their beloved native country they are proclaiming that with Christ there
is always novelty in life, without boredom, fatigue or sadness. “The
missionary needs the joy of the Gospel: without this one cannot be on a
mission, one does not proclaim a Gospel that does not attract.”
"This attraction, he stressed, is the heart of mission" because it is
only Christ who attracts.
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