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From MISNAOct. 1, 2009
On this the highly celebrated recurrence of the liturgical holiday of Saint
Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), fittingly proclaimed in 1927 as Patron of the
Mission along with, of course, Saint Francis Xavier, has the Missionary October
truly begun at last.
This year, this exceptional month is dedicated to the most opportune theme of
“Gospel without Borders” – culminating on October 18 with the highly anticipated
extravaganza of World Missionary Day, a remarkable occasion indeed. The ‘Fides’
is keen to remark today that October was chosen as the missionary month in
memory of the discovery of the American continent, which it piercingly analyzes
as having “opened a new important page in the history of evangelization”;
therein, of course, the true importance of the discovery.
Thusly, in the Chapel of the Palace of Propaganda Fide, the secretary of the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, monsignor Robert Sarah, merrily
presided, this morning, the Eucharistic co-celebration in honor of Saint Therese
herself, which was attended by the cardinal prefect, the undersecretary,
priests, religious and secular members of the Congregation and International
Secretariats of the Pontifical Missionary Works.
“To encourage a reawakening to the sensitivity of the mission, that is to say,
if you will, to bring the Gospel in the very heart and on the mouth”: this,
indeed, is how father Marcello Storgato, a Xaverian missionary, had succinctly
synthesized over the course of the past few days, the complex and deep sense of
the Missionary October, which was happily already opened in several countries
from Lebanon to Canada. The animation aids devised by the Italian Pontifical
Missionary Works – explains ‘Fides’ – propose to dedicate – and these are to be
followed chronologically as established - the first week to contemplation, the
second week to vocation, the third to responsibility, the fourth to charity, and
last week to gratitude.
In his message for World Missionary Day 2009, inspiringly entitled “The Nations
Shall Indeed Walk to His Light”, Benedict XVI had unassumingly stressed once
more, and this cannot be overly emphasized, that “the Church does not act to
extend its power or affirm its domain, not at all, indeed it does so to bring
everyone to Christ, salvation of the world” inasmuch as “the very commitment to
announce the Gospel to the men (and women) of our time...is, without any shade
of a doubt, a service rendered not only to the Christian community, but to the
whole of humanity as well”.
