World Mission Sunday

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world!” (N. Mandela)

Pope Francis has set October 2019 as an Extraordinary Missionary Month (EMM) in commemoration of the centenary of the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud.

He wants this month to be an opportunity to promote various missionary commitment initiatives in all areas of church life, and to encourage reflection on acts of charity and the organization of specific actions for the needs of missions. In order not to remain closed in our world and be self-sufficient, in his letter “Baptized and Sent”, Pope Francis invites us to “press forward”. The Church, says the Pope, should press forward to the farthest frontiers. People should respond to the call to leave behind their home, family, country, language and local Church. The Church’s universal mission requires setting aside exclusivist ideas of membership in one’s own country and ethnic group, leaving behind every kind of undue ethnic and ecclesial introversion. Every baptized man and woman should practice detachment from oneself and one’s own home, because people in love never stand still; they are attracted and attract others in turn; they give themselves to others and build relationships that are life-giving. As far as God’s love is concerned, no one is useless or insignificant.