VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2006 (VIS) - "Charity, Soul of the Mission," is the theme of the Holy Father's Message for 80th World Mission Day, due to be celebrated on October 22, 2006.
"Each Christian community," writes the Pope in his Message which is dated April 29, "is called to communicate God Who is Love. ... Man came from the Creator's hands as the fruit of an initiative of love. Sin then clouded the divine stamp within him," but God the Father sent His Son to save "all human beings from the slavery of evil and death."
"Thanks to Christ, the Good Shepherd Who does not abandon the lost sheep, men and women of all times are given the possibility of entering into communion with God. ... The amazing sign of this love is the Cross."
Benedict XVI indicates that "in order to love according to God, it is necessary to live in Him and of Him. God is man's first 'home' and only those who live in Him burn with a fire of divine charity capable of 'setting alight' the world. Is this not the mission of the Church in all times? It is not, then, difficult to understand that true missionary solicitude - the principal commitment of the ecclesial community - is linked to faithfulness to divine love, and this is true for each individual Christian, for each local community, for the particular Churches and for the entire People of God.
"Awareness of this shared mission," he adds, "is what animates the generous willingness of Christ's disciples to undertake works of human and spiritual promotion that bear witness, as the beloved John Paul II wrote in his Encyclical 'Redemptoris mission,' to 'the soul of all missionary activity: love'."
The Holy Father emphasizes the fact that "to be missionaries means to love God with all one's being, to the point of giving, if necessary, one's life for Him. How many priests, religious and lay people, even in our own time, have rendered the supreme witness of love through martyrdom!"
He adds: "To be missionaries is to attend, like the Good Samaritan, to everyone's needs, especially those of the poorest and most needy, because those who love with Christ's heart do not seek their own interest, but only the glory of the Father and the good of others. This is the secret of the apostolic fruitfulness of missionary work, which cuts across frontiers and cultures, reaches people and spreads even to the confines of the world."
The Pope concludes his Message by asking that World Mission Day "be an occasion to better understand that the witness of love, the soul of the mission, concerns everyone. ... Alongside those who are on the front line ... of evangelization - and here my thoughts go out to missionaries - there are many others, children, young people and adults, who with prayer and cooperation contribute in various ways to spreading the Kingdom of God on earth. The hope is that, with everyone's contribution, this shared participation may grow ever more."
MESS/WORLD MISSION DAY/... VIS 20060602 (520)
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