World Mission Day: a century of journeying together

World Mission Day is celebrated on the penultimate Sunday of October. This year marks the centenary of the establishment of this special day. This anniversary reminds us of the missionaries who are challenged to continue setting out to bring the Gospel to peoples everywhere, and of the faithful, who are invited to participate actively in the Church’s initiatives and efforts to fulfil Jesus’ missionary mandate.

A brief look at the messages for World Mission Day over the years shows how the Church deepens her missionary awareness and engages with peoples around the world. The various dimensions of evangelisation are brought into relationship with one another (witness, martyrdom and proclamation; evangelisation, development and human promotion; first proclamation, conversion and baptism…), within a mission that requires urgent missionary formation and ongoing missionary training.

In his message for this centenary, Pope Leo XIV seeks to contribute to the building of the unity of the Church by adopting a theological approach that invites us to read the text spiritually. In one section of his message, Leo XIV links mission with love and affirms that love is the very substance of the Church and her mission. Love unites Christians with all people and all peoples; the power of love brings individuals and peoples together without denying the diversity of persons and cultures; and only love can heal the wounds and traumas caused by divisions that hinder communion.

The Pope writes: “Needless to say, missionary unity should not be understood as uniformity, but rather as the convergence of different charisms for the same purpose, namely to make Christ’s love visible and to invite everyone to encounter him. Evangelization is achieved when local communities cooperate with one another and when cultural, spiritual and liturgical differences are fully and harmoniously expressed in the same faith. I therefore encourage all institutions in the Church to strengthen their sense of ecclesial missionary communion and to develop creative and concrete ways of cooperating with one another for and in the mission.”

Fr Manuel Augusto Lopes Ferreira, MCCJ