The History of the mission Sunday.
This takes us back to 1922 when by then, the cardinal archbishop of Milan Achille Ambrogio Ratti, known as “the missionary pope” was elected as a Pope and took the name Pius XI (1922-1939). His missionary zeal was well known by many, and in fact he stimulated the creation of new missions ordaining the first Indians (1923) and Chinese (1926) bishops. In 1925 he opened in Rome the year of world missionary exposition and in the following year, (1926) he published his encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae in which he affirmed the missionary objectives programmed at the beginning of his pontificate. In 1922 he constituted the pontifical mission societies, recommending them as the principle and official instruments of missionary cooperation in the whole Church. It is also important to know that this was the pope who talking about social justice in his encyclical Quas Primas established the solemnity of Christ the King to mark the end and the beginning of the liturgical year. He took his motto as “Christ’s peace in Christ’s Kingdom.” In 1926 he instituted the world mission day ( a day of prayers and contributions in the benefit of the evangelization of the peoples) to be celebrated in every penultimate (second last Sunday) of October every year, all over the world.
This year, on the event of the 83rd mission Sunday, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, writing his world’s mission day massage on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul reminds the Catholics that evangelization is the essential mission of the Church and that they should do all that they can to support the missions. World Mission Day will be celebrated this year on Sunday, October 18, with the theme: “The nations will walk in its light.” In his massage, the pope says that the goal of the Church’s mission is to illumine all peoples with the light of the Gospel as they journey through history towards God, so that in Him they may reach their full potential and fulfillment. It is in this perspective that the disciples of Christ throughout the world work, struggle and groan under the burden of suffering, even offering up their own lives. Thus is the responsibility and duty of the church to lead all mankind to Christ, the world’s true Consolation. By the virtue of our baptism we are all missionaries and therefore the Pope’s massage is not only for the Bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians or religious men and women but also for the laity and the whole humanity including catechists and other pastoral operators who at their different levels and capacities, make mission "ad gentes" the very reason of their existence, persevering despite great difficulties.
Following the divine and missionary command of our Lord which we find in the Gospel of St. Mathew 28:18-20; "Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…and know that I am with you always, until the end of the world". We come to know that the Lord never abandons us and his lasting presence in his Church, especially in the Word and the sacraments is a guarantee of the effectiveness of mission. We who have experienced the joy of encountering Christ should not keep it for ourselves, but must share it with the others and especially the poor the marginalized and those who have not yet heard of Christ. We must also be deeply convinced of the fact that evangelization is also a valuable service to humanity, since it prepares it to achieve the plan of God, who wishes to unite to himself the whole humanity united and liberated from injustices. Animated with an apostolic spirit, we, by our immense efforts, make an outstanding and altogether necessary contribution to the spread of the faith and of the Church. Working with great effort and missionary zeal, we undoubtedly offer most effective support to missionaries in many tasks. Therefore the cooperation of each and everyone is necessary. No one, in fact, is so poor that has nothing to give. We share in missionary activity first of all through prayer, during liturgy or in the secret of our room, through sacrifice and offering up our sufferings to God. This is the first sort of cooperation which everyone can offer.
What about us as Consolata missionaries?
In this article we have seen that, it is the responsibility and duty of the Church to lead all mankind to Christ, the world’s true Consolation. First and foremost we are a part and parcel of this Church. Secondly, we are called under this privileged title of our lady “Consolata Missionaries” Does that mean something to us? Of course if we are true sons, disciples and missionaries of Christ through or as our lady Consolata it means a lot. By her “yes” Mary gave the world the true Consolation her Son Jesus Christ. By our religious and missionary consecration we are called to proclaim this Consolation to the nations; that Jesus the Only Son of the Father, and the second person of the Holy Trinity took flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary, a man like us in all things but sin. He was rejected, suffered death and was buried but resurrected on the third day thus reconciling the all universe and mankind with the Father. This is our mission and should be done by word and testimony. Our founder used to say that we do not go to the missions on a whim or as tourists, but out of love for God and this love is inseparable for the love of the neighbor. As missionaries, more even than as Christians we are committed to promoting God’s glory through our work and prayers. Without this love we will only have the name “missionary” but we will not have the substance. As we begin the month of October is good to ask ourselves; will this month be different in our mission or it will be like any other? What will I do in my capacity? How are our missions? Are they different in the sense of being more missionary oriented than others? If not what can I do to change this? We should always strive hard and not get discouraged even if the results are disappointing. We should only do our part well and God will do the rest, because he is the sole owner of the missions and we are just mere instruments.
