Happy Feast and let us be missionaries in true spirit of living and witness to Christ. In Gods plan, as we see dramatically today, conversion and mission go together. When God calls, he also gives a mission. Ananias told Saul: You will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard (Acts 22:15). Todays feast then reminds us powerfully of the whole missionary dimension of the Church. We are now in the third millennium of Christianity. It is said that the first millennium involved the evangelization of Europe, the second millennium the evangelization of the Americas and the third millennium the evangelization of Asia. There are more than a billion Chinese and almost that many Indians who do not know of Gods saving love - the good news. The Churchs mission continues. In the face of this challenge, the Church can never be at rest. We know too the re-evangelization challenge in areas that were once considered Christian. A true Christian, like Paul the Apostle, will always have a wide horizon for apostolic zeal. In past decades thousands of priests, sisters and laity went to all corners of the world to bring the good news. If this is no longer the case it demonstrates on a weakening of faith in Gods saving plan. It is not enough for us to exist in cozy narcissistic communities simply celebrating the faith for ourselves. Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation (Mk 16:15). Christs command, which Paul of Tarsus welcomed with generous heart, has continued to re-echo in the Church, raising up in the course of the centuries bands of apostles ready to face hardship and toil to bring the word of salvation to the nations. The Church of today also feels the inner urge of missionary duty. She desires to serve mankind with all her powers: and the first fundamental service, essentially linked to her raison detre, is the preaching of the Gospel to every creature. Fidelity to the Lords missionary command requires that the Church, in her own existence, let shine through more clearly the mystery which constitutes her (John Paul II, Jan 25, 1986).
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 09:12:06 +0000
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