World Mission Day 2021
„We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard“ (Acts 4:20)
Once we experience the power of God’s love, and recognize his fatherly presence in our personal and community life, we cannot help but proclaim and share „what we have seen and heard“. Jesus’ relationship with his disciples and his humanity, as revealed to us in the mystery of his Incarnation, Gospel and Paschal Mystery, shows us the extent to which God loves our humanity and makes his own our joys and sufferings, our hopes and our concerns (GS, 22).
Our own times are not easy. The pandemic has brought to the fore and amplified the pain, the solitude, the poverty and the injustices experienced by so many people. It has unmasked our false sense of security and revealed the brokenness and polarization quietly growing in our midst. Those who are most frail and vulnerable have come to feel even more so. We have experienced discouragement, disillusionment and fatigue; nor have we been immune from a growing negativity that stifles hope.
The theme of this year’s World Mission Day – „We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard“ (Acts 4:20), is a summons to each of us to „own“ and to bring to others what we bear in our hearts. Always, but especially in these times of pandemic, it is important to grow in our daily ability to widen our circle, to reach out to others who, albeit physically close to us, are not immediately part of our „circle of interests“ (Fratelli Tutti, 97). To be on mission is to be willing to think as Christ does, to believe with him that those around us are also my brothers and sisters. May his compassionate love touch our hearts and make us all true missionary disciples. /Pope Francis/