WORD ALIVE
One Sunday morning after saying Mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Kamuning, Quezon City run by SVD confreres, a couple approached me. "Father, we're from this parish," they greeted.
“We’re lay missionaries working in Papua New Guinea and we're presently on vacation." Then they related their mission work.
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I found it extraordinary and inspiring that a Filipino lay couple could make the sacrifice of leaving a comfortable life and country to devote some years in the “bush mission.”
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Tomorrow is World Mission Sunday. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus Christ said: “Go out into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to every nation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mk 16,15).
Many have the misconception that spreading God's Word belongs to religious and lay missionaries only. The truth is: every baptized Christian is a missionary.
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Not all, however, can emulate what the missionary couple had been doing. For most Christians, they can be missionaries at home, whether they’re a teacher, nurse, executive, lawyer, and others. What counts is not geography and position, but the motive that impels every Christian to comply with the mandate of Christ.
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Remember St. Therese of the Child Jesus? She never stepped out of the four walls of her Carmelite cloister but was chosen as the universal patroness of Catholic missions. She merited the title because of her burning obsession to save immortal souls by offering every little act of sacrifice, every bodily pain, every fervent prayer.
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When I was ordained priest in the missionary Society of the Divine Word (SVD), I applied to work in Mexico, Central America. Unfortunately, I did not get my wish. I humored myself saying I had reached to Mexico...but Mexico, Pampanga!
That doesn’t mean, however, that I am not a genuine missionary. By my work in the media apostolate and supporting seminarians under the “Adopt-A-Seminarian” scholarship program, I am a missionary.
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Further, we can be missionaries by contributing financial support for the mission. Money is necessary in building churches, convents, clinics, social centers needed especially in far-flung bush missions.
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Ask yourself: Am I contributing for the mission through the three Ts – Time, Treasure, Talent? Am I aware of my mission obligation only on Mission Sunday or through the whole year round?
When I meet the Lord in the next life, can I say: “Lord, I did my share in doing my mission following your mandate?”
“Go out into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to every nation.”
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Message of his Holiness Pope Francis for World Mission Day 2023 (Excerpt) – “Hearts on fire, feet on the move” (cf. Lk 24:13-35)
“Dear Brothers and Sisters! For this year’s World Mission Sunday, I have chosen a theme inspired by the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus, in the Gospel of Luke (cf. 24:13-35): “Hearts on fire, feet on the move.” Those two disciples were confused and dismayed, but their encounter with Christ in the word and in the breaking of the bread sparked in them the enthusiastic desire to set out again towards Jerusalem and proclaim that the Lord had truly risen.
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“In the Gospel account, we perceive this change in the disciples through a few revealing images: their hearts burned within them as they heard the Scriptures explained by Jesus, their eyes were opened as they recognized him and, ultimately, their feet set out on the way. By meditating on these three images, which reflect the journey of all missionary disciples, we can renew our zeal for evangelization in today’s world.
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“All of us can contribute to this missionary movement: with our prayers and activities, with material offerings and the offering of our sufferings, and with our personal witness. The Pontifical Mission Societies are the privileged means of fostering this missionary cooperation on both the spiritual and material levels. For this reason, the collection taken on World Mission Sunday is devoted to the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith.”