NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM COLLABORATING IN MISSIONARY WORK

VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was the Holy Father's message for World Mission Day which will be held on October 22. In his message he recalls that "no one can consider themselves exempt from offering their collaboration to the development of Christ's mission that continues in the Church."

In the message, dated June 11, Solemnity of Pentecost, the Pope also especially recalls "so many missionaries, martyrs of the faith who, like Christ, gave their lives and spilled their blood. ... May these witnesses of faith, whom we have remembered, be a model and stimulus for all Christians, so that the announcement of Christ be perceived by each Christian as their own duty."

"The perspective of the Great Jubilee," he continues, "induces us to a greater 'ad gentes' missionary commitment. Two thousand years after the start of the mission, there still remain vast geographical, cultural, human and social areas in which Christ and His Gospel have not yet penetrated. How can we not hear the appeal that arises from such situations?"

John Paul II has some particular words for catechists in mission lands: "Working with great missionary strength and zeal, without doubt they constitute the most efficient support for missionaries in many fields. Not infrequently, because of the scarcity of ministers, they have responsibility for vast areas where they follow small communities and carry out the role of animators in prayer, in liturgical celebrations of the Word of God, in explaining doctrine and in organizing charity."

At the end of his message, the Holy Father highlights that "we participate in the mission above all through prayer - in the liturgy and in the quiet of our own room - through sacrifice and with the offer of our own sufferings to God. This is the primary collaboration that each of us can give. It is also important not to avoid an economic contribution, vital for so many local Churches."

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