Pope: Missionaries open the doors of the Church to all and keep them open
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - In these
changing times, missionary activity - which is "the paradigm of the whole
Church" - requires " an outward looking missionary Church" ready
in "to serve everyone in charity" and pledged to work to ensure ecclesial
communities "keep their doors open" and "learn to welcome the poor
with a preferential love". The meeting this morning with the participants at
the Pontifical Missions Societies annual assembly gave Pope Francis to
outline some of his expectations of those who are "in the service of the
mission of the Church to bring the Gospel to the nations in every part of the Earth".
In
reply to the greeting of Cardinal Prefect Fernando Filoni , the Pope recalled
that "With the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium I
wanted to invite all the faithful to a new season of evangelization; and in our
time the missio ad gentes is the driving force of this fundamental
dynamism of the Church. The anxiety to evangelize at the
"peripheries", witnessed by holy and generous missionaries, helps all
communities to realize an effective pastoral outreach , a renewal of structures
and activities. Missionary activity is paradigmatic for all the Church's activity.
( cf. Evangelii gaudium, 15) .
In this time of great social change, evangelization requires a thoroughly
outgoing missionary Church, capable of discernment in order to engage with
different cultures and visions of man . For a changing world we need a Church
renewed and transformed by contemplation and personal contact with Christ, by
the power of the Spirit. The Spirit of Christ, is the source of renewal, which
helps us to us find new ways, new creative methods, various forms of expression
for the evangelization of the world today. It is He who gives us the strength
to undertake the journey and the joy of the missionary journey, so that the
light of Christ enlighten those who still do not know or refused . For this we
require the courage to "to reach all the "peripheries" in need of the
light of the Gospel" (Evangelii gaudium, 21) . We cannot be held back by
our weaknesses, or our sins, nor the many obstacles to the witness and
proclamation of the Gospel. It is the experience of the encounter with the Lord
Jesus that motivates us and gives us the joy of proclaiming Him to all nations.
The Church is missionary by its very nature, its fundamental prerogative is the
service of charity to all. Universal brotherhood and solidarity are connatural
to its life and mission in the world and for the world. Evangelization, which
must reach everyone, however, is called to begin with the least, the poor,
those whose backs are bent under the weight and strain of life. In so doing,
the Church prolongs the mission of Christ himself, who "came so that they
may have life and have it abundantly " (Jn 10:10). The Church is the
people of the Beatitudes , the home of the poor, the afflicted , the excluded
and persecuted those who hunger and thirst for justice. You are asked to work
so that the ecclesial communities know how to welcome the poor with
preferential love, keeping the doors of the church open so all may enter and
find shelter.
The Pontifical Mission Societies are the privileged instrument which generously
reminds us of anfd cares for the missio ad gentes. For this I turn to you as
leaders and formators of missionary awareness in the local churches: with
patient perseverance, promote our shared missionary responsibility. There is so
much need of priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful who, gripped by the
love of Christ, are set ablaze with passion for the Kingdom of God and willing
to put themselves on the path of evangelization"-
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13/10/2022 17:01
