On this World Mission Sunday, “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard!” We remember Jesus’ call to go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel. We ask God’s blessing that, through our self-giving and speaking about our faith, the “Good News” of Jesus may be proclaimed to all nations and peoples. Every parish in the world participates, united in this special Eucharistic celebration. Every parishioner is a missionary, sharing our love for Christ’s Gospel with one another, supporting the Church most in need.
On the next-to-last Sunday of October, World Mission Sunday joins all Catholics of the world into one community of faith. At Mass that Sunday, we recommit ourselves to our common vocation, through Baptism to be missionaries, through prayer, participation in the Eucharist, and by giving generously to the collection for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
Pope Francis’ message for World Mission Sunday this year reflects on the theme: “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). He reminds us that, “as Christians, we cannot keep the Lord to ourselves,” as we “recall with gratitude all those men and women who by their testimony of life help us to renew our baptismal commitment to be generous and joyful apostles of the Gospel.”
On World Mission Sunday, we join our Holy Father in supporting his missions. As we pray and respond here at home, we share in those celebrations taking place in every parish and school throughout the world. Together, through our prayers and financial support, we bring the Lord’s mercy and concrete help to the most vulnerable communities in the Pope’s missions.
In a world where so much divides us, World Mission Sunday rejoices in our unity as missionaries by our Baptism, as it offers each one of us an opportunity to support the life-giving presence of the Church among the poor and marginalized in more than 1,111 mission dioceses.
Pope Francis seeks to promote greater awareness of “missio ad gentes” and to animate the missionary transformation of Church life and pastoral activity by asking each country to highlight a great missionary who shared their life for the love of the Gospel.
In the United States, Sister Dorothy Stang, SNDdeN, martyred in Brazil in 2005 because of her defense of Indigenous people and the Environment is our great missionary of the Gospel who died reciting, "Blessed are the peacemakers..." (Mt 5:9)
To learn more about her exemplary missionary life, please view the video at the left and visit this link to the website of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, her congregation ~