Editorial

Following our mandate to be missionaries of faith

Pope Francis used a liturgy he celebrated last weekend to remind us of a mandate of our faith: to be missionaries for Christ, sharing the good news of salvation and making disciples for him, not for ourselves or for a clique of like-minded believers.

“What instructions does the Lord give us for going forth to others? Only one, and it’s very simple: Make disciples. But, be careful: his disciples, not our own,” the pope said on Oct. 20 as he celebrated World Mission Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Dozens of participants from the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon joined the pope for the Mass, and many indigenous wore their native headdresses, had their faces painted or dressed in traditional clothes.

When World Mission Sunday is celebrated each fall, some people of faith envision missionaries serving the less fortunate in third-world countries or in nations who have been at war where hunger, violence, homelessness and uncertainty reign. Images of religious sharing their hearts and hands with children lacking food and shelter move our hearts and lead many of us to act, responding to God’s command to help the least of our brothers and sisters.

Others mark this annual celebration by thinking of and praying for the religious sisters and brothers we see serving the Church in central and southern Indiana—in parishes, schools and other ministries being the hands and feet of Christ to so many who cross their path.

But Pope Francis used this year’s World Mission Sunday celebration to again remind us that, as Christians, we are each called to share God’s love and mercy with all people. “All, because no one is excluded from his heart, from his salvation. All, so that our heart can go beyond human boundaries and particularism based on a self-centeredness that displeases God. All, because everyone is a precious treasure, and the meaning of life is found only in giving this treasure to others.

“Those who bear witness to Jesus go out to all, not just to their own acquaintances or their little group,” he added.

The pope’s message reinforces that although we celebrate Mass as a family of faith each weekend, we must live our tenets as disciples of Christ outside our parish home in all that we say and do. And as we’ve heard Pope Francis and other Church leaders—including Archbishop Charles C. Thompson—tell us time and time again, our vocations as missionary disciples mean we must step outside our comfort zones and bring Christ to others.

The call to be a missionary is a call that is included in every Christian’s baptism, the pope continued, telling people at the Mass: “Jesus is also saying to you: ‘Go, don’t miss a chance to bear me witness!’ My brother, my sister, the Lord expects from you a testimony that no one can give in your place.”

If we are to be disciples of Christ, the first and most important way to share the Gospel with others is by living it, Pope Francis continued. “A credible proclamation is not made with beautiful words, but by an exemplary life: a life of service that is capable of rejecting all those material things that shrink the heart and make people indifferent and inward-looking; a life that renounces the useless things that entangle the heart in order to find time for God and others.”

In today’s world, we understand the challenges many of our brothers and sisters face in making faith a priority. More and more people are falling into a secularist mentality where “it’s all about me” is their mantra of living.

Being a missionary disciple, the Holy Father said, does not mean “conquering, mandating, proselytizing,” but rather “witnessing, humbling oneself alongside other disciples and offering with love the love that we ourselves received.”

Humility. We see examples of it in Scripture quite frequently, from Jesus, who described himself as “meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29) to the story of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32), who seeks his father’s forgiveness for his life of sin, to many other examples where humbling oneself leads to a beautiful witness of discipleship.

“Our mission,” Pope Francis said, is “to give pure and fresh air to those immersed in the pollution of our world; to bring to Earth that peace which fills us with joy whenever we meet Jesus on the mountain in prayer; to show by our lives, and perhaps even by our words, that God loves everyone and never tires of anyone.”

If we follow our mandate to be missionaries of faith, we can bring Christ’s light to so many people who are enveloped in darkness.

May we find the courage to be the people God calls us to be.

—Mike Krokos