World Mission Sunday

The misson of the Church entails the preaching of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. "Go and make disciples of all nations." (Mt 28: 19).  Pope John Paul II stressed the need to carry out this command of Jesus and each year on the second last Sunday of October, our awareness of our part in this mission is brought home to us through an annual message from the Holy Father (see Vatican.org)  and an opportunity to give prayerful and financial aid to those who have been called to go diretly to other nations to fullfill this commission.  Having been one of those myself, and having just this summer spoken in two parishes in Massachusetts to gain support for our Marist Missions, I can attest to the need for both prayer and financial assistance.  There is an eagerness to embrace the faith, to become members of a parish, to enter the seminary or join a religious congregation that we don't see in our country anymore.  We who once sent personnel to "the missions" now need missionaires to come to us!  Because of the fast growth of the Church in these mission countries, whose populations live far below "the poverty line", our support is needed to help finance the catechetical programs, seminaries, building of churches and schools, and means of transportation and communication.
In Rwanda we needed a better truck to transport students to athletic contests, and more importantly, to bring water to the school from a source three miles away.  Everyday we had to push the truck down a hill to "clutch start it" and finally it gave out totally.  It took about five years to accumulate the money to buy a second hand truck that was reliable!  I saw it only after I returned for a visit three years after I had returned to the USA. And prayer for the "missionaries" to keep the faith under hardship and continue the demanding but rewarding work to form native churches is absolutely necessary. While we are at it, we might also pray for the work of re-evangelizing our own country as secular values encroach more and more on Christian values. Let all of this be our mission on Mission Sunday.
Bro. Rene