Holy Fathers's Mission Sunday Message
Holy Fathers's Mission Sunday Message
"Faith Is a Gift That Is Given to Us to Be Shared"VATICAN CITY
Here is a translation of Benedict
XVI's message for World Mission Day, which will be celebrated
this Oct. 21. The text was released by the Vatican
"Called
to Make the Word of Truth Shine" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 6)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
The celebration of World Mission
Day has an altogether particular meaning this year. The observance of the 50th
anniversary of the Conciliar Decree Ad gentes, the opening of the Year of Faith
and the Synod of Bishops on the subject of the New Evangelization concur in
reaffirming the will of the Church to commit herself with greater boldness and
ardor in the mission ad gentes, so that the Gospel will reach the ends of the
earth.
The Ecumenical Second
Vatican Council, with the participation of Catholic bishops from all corners of
the earth, was a luminous sign of the universality of the Church, bringing
together, for the first time, such a large number of Conciliar Fathers from
Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania .
Missionary bishops and native bishops, pastors of communities spread among
non-Christian populations, who brought to the Conciliar sessions the image of a
Church present in all the continents and who made themselves interpreters of
the complex reality of the then so-called "Third
World ." Rich in the experience stemming from being pastors of
young churches in the process of formation and animated by passion for the
spread of the Kingdom of God, they contributed in an important way to
reaffirming the necessity and urgency of the evangelization ad gentes, and
hence to put at the center of ecclesiology the missionary nature of the Church.
Missionary Ecclesiology
This vision has not
diminished today, rather, it has gone through a profound theological and
pastoral reflection and, at the same time, it is proposed again with renewed
urgency because the number of those who still do not know Christ has grown.
"The men who await Christ are still an immense number," said Blessed
John Paul II in the Encyclical Redemptoris missio on the permanent validity of
the missionary mandate, and he added: "We cannot be at peace when thinking
of the millions of our brothers and sisters, also redeemed by the Blood of
Christ, who live in ignorance of the love of God" (n. 86). In convoking
the Year of Faith, I also wrote that Christ "today as then, sends us to
the paths of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the
earth" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 7); a proclamation that, as the
Servant of God Paul VI also expressed, in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii
nuntiandi, "is not an optional contribution for the Church: it is the duty
that is incumbent upon her by the mandate of the Lord Jesus, so that men will
be able to believe and be saved. Yes, this message is necessary. It is unique.
It is irreplaceable" (n. 5). Hence we are in need of taking up again the
same apostolic impetus of the first Christian communities, which, small and
vulnerable, with their proclamation and witness, were able to spread the Gospel
in the whole then-known world. It is no wonder, therefore, that Vatican Council
II and the successive Magisterium of the Church insist especially on the
missionary mandate that Christ entrusted to his disciples, which must be the
commitment of all the People of God: bishops; priests; deacons; men and women
religious; and laity. The task of proclaiming the Gospel in every part of the
earth corresponds primarily to bishops, directly responsible for the
evangelization of the world, be it as members of the Episcopal College or as
pastors of particular Churches. In fact, they "were consecrated not only
for a diocese, but for the salvation of the whole world" (John Paul II,
Encyclical Letter Redemptoris mission, 63), "messengers of faith who bring
new disciples to Christ" (Ad gentes, 20) and render "visible the
missionary spirit and ardor of the People of God, so that the whole diocese
becomes missionary" (Ibid., 38). The Priority of Evangelization
The mandate to preach the
Gospel is not exhausted, therefore, by a Pastor in caring for that portion of
the People of God entrusted to his pastoral care, or in the sending of a fidei
donum priest, layman or laywoman. It should involve the whole activity of the
particular Church, all her sectors, in short, all her being and action. Vatican
II indicated this clearly and the successive Magisterium confirmed it
forcefully. This requires the constant adaptation of lifestyles, pastoral plans
and diocesan organization to this fundamental dimension of being Church,
especially in our world in constant change. And this is also true for the
Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as
for the Ecclesial Movements: all the components of the great mosaic of the
Church must feel strongly drawn in by the Lord's mandate to preach the Gospel,
so that Christ is proclaimed everywhere. We, Pastors, men and women religious
and all the faithful in Christ, must follow in the footsteps of the Apostle
Paul, who, "a prisoner for Christ on behalf of you Gentiles"
(Ephesians 3:1), worked, suffered and fought to have the Gospel reach the
Gentiles (cf. Ephesians 1:24-29), not sparing energy, time and means to make
Christ's Message known.
The mission ad gentes should
be, also today, the constant horizon and paradigm of every ecclesial activity,
because the very identity of the Church is constituted by faith in the Mystery
of God, who revealed himself in Christ to bring us salvation, and by the
mission to witness and proclaim him to the world, until his return. Like St.
Paul, we should care for those who are far away, those who still do not know
Christ and have not experienced God's paternity, in the awareness that
"the missionary cooperation must be extended today to new forms including
not only economic aid but also direct participation in evangelization"
(John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 82). The celebration of
the Year of Faith and of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization will be
propitious occasions to re-launch missionary cooperation, especially in this
latter dimension.
Faith and
Proclamation
The eagerness to proclaim
Christ drives us also to read history to perceive the problems, aspirations and
hopes of humanity that Christ must heal, purify and fill with his presence. His
message, in fact, is always timely, it is set in the very heart of history and
is able to answer the profoundest concerns of every man. Because of this, in
all her components the Church must be aware that "the immense horizon of
the ecclesial mission, the complexity of the present situation require a
renewed modality today, to be able to communicate the Word of God
effectively" (Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini,
97). Above all, this calls for a renewed adherence of personal and community
faith to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, "at a time of profound change as that
which humanity is experiencing" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 8).
One of the obstacles to the
impetus of evangelization is, in fact, the crisis of faith, not only in the
Western world, but in a good part of humanity, which nevertheless is hungry and
thirsty for God and must be invited and led to the bread of life and the living
water, as the Samaritan woman who went to Jacob's well and talked with Christ.
As the Evangelist John
recounts, this event of this woman is particularly significant (cf. John
4:1-30): she meets Jesus, who asks her for a drink, but then speaks to her
about a new water, able to satiate thirst for ever. At first the woman does not
understand, she remains at the material level, but slowly she is led by the
Lord to undertake a path of faith that leads her to recognize him as the
Messiah. And regarding this, Saint
Augustine
In this plan of love
realized by Christ, faith in God is above all a gift and mystery to be received
in the heart and in life and for which to be always grateful to the Lord. But
faith is a gift that is given to us to be shared; it is a talent received so
that it will bear fruit; it is a light that must not be kept hidden, but
illumine the whole house. It is the most important gift that has been given to
us in our lives and we cannot keep it for ourselves.
The Proclamation Becomes
Charity
"Woe to me if I do not
preach the Gospel!" said the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 9:16). This word
resounds forcefully for every Christian and for every Christian community in
all the Continents. Even for churches in mission territories, churches that are
young in the main, of recent foundation, doing missionary activity has become a
connatural dimension, even if they themselves are still in need of
missionaries. So many priests, men and women religious, from every part of the
world, numerous laymen and, in fact, whole families leave their countries,
their local communities and go to other churches to witness and proclaim the
Name of Christ, in whom humanity finds salvation. It is an expression of
profound communion, sharing and charity between the churches, so that every man
can hear and hear again the proclamation that heals and approach the
Sacraments, sources of true life.
Together with this lofty
sign of faith which is transformed into charity, I recall and thank the
Pontifical Missionary Works, an instrument for cooperation in the universal
mission of the Church in the world. Through their action the proclamation of
the Gospel becomes also an intervention in aid of neighbors, justice for the
poorest, possibility of instruction in the most isolated villages, medical care
in remote places, emancipation from poverty, rehabilitation of the
marginalized, support for the development of peoples, the overcoming of ethnic
divisions, respect for life in every phase.
Dear brothers and sisters, I
invoke upon the work of evangelization ad gentes, and in particular upon its
workers, the effusion of the Holy Spirit, so that the Grace of God will make it
advance more decisively in the history of the world. With Blessed John Henry
Newman, I would like to pray: "O Lord, accompany your missionaries in the
lands of evangelization, put the right words on their lips, make their toil
fruitful." May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of
Evangelization, accompany all missionaries of the Gospel.
From the Vatican
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