Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, making St. Therese of Lisieux’s intuition its own , patroness of missions, wants to be in the body of the Church, the heart from which flows the love for evangelization". This is what Archbishop Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples said during the Mass celebrated today, October 1, in the Chapel of Propaganda Fide palace, on the occasion of the Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, opening day for the month of missions around the world.
Archbishop Filoni briefly traced the life of St. Therese, born in 1873 and died when she was just 24 years old on September 30, 1897. The saint gave her life "for the salvation of souls and for the renewal of the Church". She was proclaimed by Pope Pius XI "Patroness of the Missions" and by Pope John Paul II, "Doctor of the Church".
The Prefect quoted a page from the writings of St. Therese, stating: "I had huge aspirations that were a martyrdom for me and I was looking for an answer". The answer came from one of St. Paul’s letter (1 Cor 12-13), which states that "not everyone can be both apostles, prophets, teachers" and that the Church is a body that has many parts. "I wanted to be everything, but I could not - continues the text mentioned by Archbishop Filoni - and realized that there is a part of the body, necessary and noble, that cannot be missing: the Church has a heart, burned by love". St. Therese realized then that "only love drives the parts of the body into action. If love had been extinguished, the Apostles would not have preached the Gospel and martyrs would not have shed blood". Thus, the saint said: "Here I have found my vocation: in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be the love".
The Prefect of the missionary Dicastery remarked: "Santa Therese’s experience should be contextualized in the period of her life and in the historical period - the second half of the XIX century - where the Catholic missions experienced consolidation and an extraordinary increase: big foundations were born and countless missionary congregations offered personnel for missions".
But it also constitutes a "valid missionary program" for the present: for this - concluded the Archbishop - "our congregation, welcoming the intuition of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, wants to be, in the body of the Church, the heart from which flows the love for evangelization. All of us are called to be part of it and to work, we must feel this mission as our primary purpose. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 01/10/2011)
