Pope at Angelus: Every baptized
person cooperates in the proclamation of the Word
 |
| Pope Francis reflects on the call to mission at Sunday's Angelus (Vatican Media) |
On World Mission Day, Pope Francis renews the call for a
missionary commitment on the part of the whole Church.
By Christopher Wells
World Mission Day “is a good opportunity for every baptized
person to become more aware of the need to cooperate in proclaiming the Kingdom
of God through a renewed commitment”, Pope Francis said at the Angelus on
Sunday.
The Holy Father reflected on a passage from the second
Reading in the Mass of the Day: “Preach the Word, be prepared in season and out
of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage – with great patience and careful
instruction”, taken from St Paul’s Second Letter to St Timothy. “The tone is
heartfelt,” Pope Francis said. “Timothy must feel responsible for the
proclamation of the Word”.
A new impetus
He referred back to the Apostolic Letter Maximum
illud, promulgated by Pope Benedict XV, which gave a “new impetus to
the missionary responsibility of the whole Church”. Pope Francis said that, “in
today’s changed context, Benedict XV’s message is still relevant and stimulates
us to overcome the temptation of any self-referential closure and any form of
pastoral pessimism, in order to open ourselves to the joyful novelty of the
Gospel”.
Pope Francis said that this means “hearing strongly the call
to the mission towards all peoples and towards all those who, here among us,
live on the margins”. He warned that living fraternity “only in our own closed
circle means to suffocate the Spirit, who unites us to proclaim to all that
Christ is our peace and in Him every division is overcome, in Him alone there
is the salvation of every person and all peoples”.
Prayer, the indispensable condition for mission
He then reminded us of the “indispensable condition” for
“living the mission to the full”, namely, prayer “a fervent and incessant
prayer, according to the teaching of Jesus proclaimed in today's Gospel as
well, in which He tells a parable on the need to ‘pray always, and not give
up’”, the Pope said. “Prayer, he continued, “is the first support the People of
God can give missionaries”.
World Mission Day, he said, “is also a good occasion to ask
ourselves, Do I pray for missionaries? Do I pray for those who go far away to
bring the Word of God with their witness?”
Pope Francis concluded his reflection with the prayer that
“Mary, Mother of all nations, might accompany and protect the missionaries of
the Gospel every day”.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét