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Message for World Mission Sunday
 
 

Dear brothers and sisters,

On the occasion of World Mission Sunday I ask Christians to reflect together on the urgency and the importance of the Church's missionary activity in our day.

Jesus Christ entrusted to the Apostles the missionary mandate: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you." Adding, "And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time" (Mt 28,19-20).

In the demanding task of evangelization we are sustained and accompanied by the certainty that Jesus is always with us and that He never ceases to guide His people.

Christ is the inexhaustible source of the Church's mission.

Faced with the advance of a secularized culture, considering also the crisis of the family, decreasing numbers of vocations and progressive ageing of the clergy, our local churches are in danger of focusing only on themselves and slackening in their missionary endeavor.

Precisely now is the time to open with confidence to the Providence of God who never abandons His people.

The Church is missionary by her very nature; it follows that the Church is sent forth to all the nations.

Missionary endeavor is the first service which the Church owes to humanity today, which means to offer Christ's salvation to the men and women of our day who are humiliated and oppressed in many parts of the world because of endemic poverty, violence and systematic denial of human rights.

The Church cannot shirk this universal mission.

We give thanks to God for the abundant fruits of this missionary activity in Africa and in other regions of the world. Hosts of Christians having left their community of origin, to put themselves at the service of the Missions. Among them no few martyrs who united testimony of the word and apostolic dedication with the sacrifice of their lives.

World Mission Sunday is an occasion to remember in our prayers all these brothers and sisters in the faith, and all who continue to work in the vast field of mission. Let us ask God that their example may give rise everywhere to new vocations and deeper missionary awareness among Christians.

Communion among communities must be intensified and reciprocal assistance must be increased with regard to personnel (priests, religious and lay missionaries) and to the means necessary for evangelizing today.

The missionary mandate truly involves us all. This World Mission Sunday is therefore an opportunity to grow in awareness of the demands of our Baptism.

The primary contribution we are called to offer for the Church's missionary activity is prayer. “The harvest is rich but the laborers are few,” the Lord says. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to do his harvesting" (Lk 10,2). We must offer our fervent prayers to God. This is in accordance with the prayers of our Lord.

I address this appeal to the sick and the suffering, mindful of the value of their mysterious and indispensable collaboration with the work of redemption.

I ask Religious, especially enclosed orders, to intensify their prayers for the Missions.

May Mary guide our steps and obtain for us a new Pentecost of love. May she help us realize that we are all missionaries, all sent by the Lord to be His witnesses in every moment of our life.

To all the missionaries an to all those who, in various ways. help to proclaim the Gospel, I assure a daily mention in my prayers while I affectionately impart upon all my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican May 27, 2007
Solemnity Pentecost
Pope Benedict XVI