VATICAN CITY, OCT 22, 2006 (VIS) - World Mission Day was the central theme of Benedict XVI's reflections before praying the Angelus with thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.
The Pope recalled how World Mission Day was established by Pius XI who, during the Jubilee Year 1925, promoted a great exhibition which later became the nucleus of the Vatican Museums' ethnological-missionary collection. Pope Benedict then went on to refer to the theme of this year's Day - "Charity, Soul of the Mission" - emphasizing how missions, "if not driven by love, are reduced to a philanthropic and social activity," while Christian missions must be inspired by "the words of St. Paul: 'the love of Christ controls us'."
"All baptized people," he continued, "like shoots attached to the vine, can thus cooperate in Jesus' mission: ... bringing everyone the good news that God is love and, precisely for this reason, wants to save the world. The mission begins in the heart. ... This is what happened 800 years ago to the young Francis of Assisi in the chapel of St. Damian, which was then a ruin. From the height of the Cross, ... Francis heard Jesus tell him: 'Go, repair My house, which as you see is in ruins'."
Benedict XVI indicated how this house was, in the first place, Francis' own life, which he had "to 'repair' through a true conversion; it was the Church, not built of bricks but of living people, in constant need of purification; it was also humanity entire, in which God loves to dwell."
He concluded: "The mission is, then, a workshop with room for everyone: for people committed to fulfilling the Kingdom of God in their own family; for people who live their professional lives with a Christian spirit; for people totally consecrated to the Lord; ... for people who go out with the specific intention of announcing Christ to those who do not yet know Him. May Mary Most Holy help us to experience ... the joy and courage of the mission!"
ANG/MISSIONS/... VIS 20061023 (350)
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