Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - United with Christ in Baptism Christians become children of God and members of the Body of Christ, that is the Church. They are directly involved in the mandate for mission which the Church received from her Lord: “Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28, 19). Having received the power of the Holy Spirit and acting under his impulse Christians are called to be witnesses to Christ in their families, districts, parishes, countries and even to the far corners of the earth (cfr. Acts 1,8). Through baptism they become like Christ and receive the gift of sharing his mission to evangeliste which is the mission of the Church. The mission consists fundamentally in professing before all men the faith received from God and in taking an active part in apostolic and missionari activity of the people of God (cfr. CCC 1270).
The first way to participate in the Church’s missionary activity is by offering spiritual means of prayer, sacrifice, daily efforts to life a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ (cfr. Phil. 1,27) and striving for holiness. Besides these spiritual means it is opportune to add real concrete material support, since faced with earthly realites the Church needs also material means to carry out her mission. It is therefore fundamental to underline in this context the importance of the Pontifcal Mission Societies which organise mission collections to help the Church meet material and financial demands inherent to her evangelising mission, above all in young Churches in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America many of which suffer from material poverty and political instability.
It is there part of the duty of witness which every Chrisitian has by virtue of baptism to offer economic help for the missions. Following the example of the early Christians who, filled with faith in the Risen Christ and aware of being members of the same Body, sold their lands and possessions to share the profit to meet the needs of all (cfr. Acts 2,42), Chrisians today are called to have the same goodness of heart and generosity and to give to the Church, even from their poverty, that she may respond to hermissionary vocation.
In this month of the Rosary and at the end of the Year of the Eucharist may we with the same faith and love and readiness as the Blessed Virgin Mary welcome the Word of Life and share it with our brothers and sisters searching for salvation which only God can give. (+ Robert Sarah) (Agenzia Fides 20/9/2005, righe 32, parole 466)
