At 6:00pm local time today in Rome (12:00noon), the Liturgical Memorial of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, patroness of the Missions, inside the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father, Pope Francis presided over the liturgical prayer of Vespers (Evening Prayer) to mark the beginning of the Extra-ordinary Missionary Month which is being observed by the Church throughout the world. The theme adopted for this month is: Blessed and sent: the Church of Christ in mission in the world.
In the parable we have heard, the Lord presents himself as a man who, before setting out, calls his servants in order to confide his goods to them (cf Mt 25:14). God has entrusted his greatest gifts to us: our lives, the lives of others, and many various gifts for each of us. And these things, these talents, do not represent things that we should keep in a safe, they represent a call: the Lord calls us to make the talents bear fruit with boldness and creativity. God will ask us if we are willing to be put into play, risking, perhaps losing face. This extraordinary missionary month seeks to be a shock to provoke us to become active in doing good deeds. Notaries of faith and guardians of grace, but missionaries.
You become a missionary by living as witnesses: witnessing with your life to your knowledge of Jesus. It is life that speaks. Witness is the key word, a word that has the same root as the word martyr. And martyrs are the first witnesses of faith: not in words, but in life. They know that faith is not propaganda or proselytism; faith is a respectful gift of life. People of faith live spreading peace and joy, loving everyone, even their enemies for Jesus' sake. So we, who have discovered the fact that we are children of the heavenly Father, how can we keep silent about the joy of being loved, the certainty of always being precious in God's eyes? This is the proclamation that so many people are waiting for. And it is our responsibility. Let us ask ourselves this month: how is my testimony going?
At the end of the parable the Lord says good and faithful of the one who was enterprising; in contrast, wicked and the lazy is the servant who was on the defensive (cf Mt 25:21, 23, 26). Why is God so severe with this fearful servant? What has he done? His evil is not having done good, he has a sin of omission. Saint Alberto Hurtado said: It is good not to hurt. But it is bad not to do good. This is the sin of omission. And this can be the sin of a whole life, because we have received life not in order to bury it, but to put it into play; not to hold onto it, but to give it away. Whoever is with Jesus knows that one has what one gives, one possesses what one gives; and the secret to possessing life is to give it away. To live with omissions is to deny our vocation: omission is the opposite of mission.
We commit this sin of omission, that is, against the mission, when, instead of spreading joy, we close ourselves in sad victimization, thinking that nobody loves us and understands us. We sin against the mission when we give in to resignation: I can't do it, I'm not capable. But how? God gave you talents; do you think you are so poor that you can't enrich anyone? We sin against the mission when we lament and continue to say that everything is bad, in the world and in the Church. We sin against the mission when we are slaves to the fears that immobilize us and we allow ourselves to be paralyzed by a belief that it has always been like that. And we sin against the mission when we live life as a burden and not as a gift; when we ourselves are the focus of our efforts, and not our brothers and sisters who are waiting to be loved.
God loves someone who gives with joy (2 Cor 9: 7). He loves an outgoing Church. But let's be careful: if it's not coming out, it's not Church. The Church is on the street, the Church is walking. An outgoing, missionary Church is a Church that wastes no time in mourning the things that are not right, the faithful we no longer have, the values of a time that no longer exists. A Church that does not seek protected oases to stay quiet; a Church that just wants to be salt for the earth and leaven for the world. This Church knows that this is its strength, the same as Jesus: not social or institutional relevance, but humble and gratuitous love.
Today we enter the missionary month of October accompanied by three servants who have borne much fruit. Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus shows us the way, she who made prayer the fuel of missionary action in the world. This is also the month of the Rosary: how much do we pray for the spread of the Gospel, to convert us from omission to mission? Then there is Saint Francis Xavier, one of the great missionaries of the Church. He also shakes us: let's get out of our shells; are we able to leave our comforts for the Gospel? And there is the Venerable Pauline Jaricot, a worker who supported the missions with her daily work: with the offerings she deducted from her salary; this was at the beginning of the Pontifical Mission Societies. And do we consider every day a gift to overcome the gap between the Gospel and life? Please do not live a sacristy faith.
We are accompanied by a religious, a priest and a lay person. They tell us that no one is excluded from the mission of the Church. Yes, in this month the Lord is also calling you. He is calling you, the father and mother of a family; you, a young man who dreams of great things; you, who works in a factory, in a shop, in a bank, in a restaurant; you, who are out of work; you, who are in a hospital bed ... The Lord asks you to make yourself a gift where you are, as you are, with those around you; not to suffer life, but to give it; not to cry on yourself, but to allow yourself to dig out from the tears of those who suffer. Take courage, the Lord expects so much from you. He also expects someone to have the courage to leave, to go where there is the most need for hope and dignity, where too many people still live without the joy of the gospel. But do I have to go alone? No, this is wrong. If we have it in mind to carry out the Church's mission as if we were a business organization, using work plans, it won't work. The protagonist of the mission is the Holy Spirit. He is the protagonist of the mission. You go with the Holy Spirit. Go, the Lord will not leave you alone; testifying, you will discover that the Holy Spirit has come before you to prepare the way. Take courage, brothers and sisters; courage, Mother Church: find your fruitfulness in the joy of the mission!
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Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
during the celebration of Vespers
In the parable we have heard, the Lord presents himself as a man who, before setting out, calls his servants in order to confide his goods to them (cf Mt 25:14). God has entrusted his greatest gifts to us: our lives, the lives of others, and many various gifts for each of us. And these things, these talents, do not represent things that we should keep in a safe, they represent a call: the Lord calls us to make the talents bear fruit with boldness and creativity. God will ask us if we are willing to be put into play, risking, perhaps losing face. This extraordinary missionary month seeks to be a shock to provoke us to become active in doing good deeds. Notaries of faith and guardians of grace, but missionaries.
You become a missionary by living as witnesses: witnessing with your life to your knowledge of Jesus. It is life that speaks. Witness is the key word, a word that has the same root as the word martyr. And martyrs are the first witnesses of faith: not in words, but in life. They know that faith is not propaganda or proselytism; faith is a respectful gift of life. People of faith live spreading peace and joy, loving everyone, even their enemies for Jesus' sake. So we, who have discovered the fact that we are children of the heavenly Father, how can we keep silent about the joy of being loved, the certainty of always being precious in God's eyes? This is the proclamation that so many people are waiting for. And it is our responsibility. Let us ask ourselves this month: how is my testimony going?
At the end of the parable the Lord says good and faithful of the one who was enterprising; in contrast, wicked and the lazy is the servant who was on the defensive (cf Mt 25:21, 23, 26). Why is God so severe with this fearful servant? What has he done? His evil is not having done good, he has a sin of omission. Saint Alberto Hurtado said: It is good not to hurt. But it is bad not to do good. This is the sin of omission. And this can be the sin of a whole life, because we have received life not in order to bury it, but to put it into play; not to hold onto it, but to give it away. Whoever is with Jesus knows that one has what one gives, one possesses what one gives; and the secret to possessing life is to give it away. To live with omissions is to deny our vocation: omission is the opposite of mission.
We commit this sin of omission, that is, against the mission, when, instead of spreading joy, we close ourselves in sad victimization, thinking that nobody loves us and understands us. We sin against the mission when we give in to resignation: I can't do it, I'm not capable. But how? God gave you talents; do you think you are so poor that you can't enrich anyone? We sin against the mission when we lament and continue to say that everything is bad, in the world and in the Church. We sin against the mission when we are slaves to the fears that immobilize us and we allow ourselves to be paralyzed by a belief that it has always been like that. And we sin against the mission when we live life as a burden and not as a gift; when we ourselves are the focus of our efforts, and not our brothers and sisters who are waiting to be loved.
God loves someone who gives with joy (2 Cor 9: 7). He loves an outgoing Church. But let's be careful: if it's not coming out, it's not Church. The Church is on the street, the Church is walking. An outgoing, missionary Church is a Church that wastes no time in mourning the things that are not right, the faithful we no longer have, the values of a time that no longer exists. A Church that does not seek protected oases to stay quiet; a Church that just wants to be salt for the earth and leaven for the world. This Church knows that this is its strength, the same as Jesus: not social or institutional relevance, but humble and gratuitous love.
Today we enter the missionary month of October accompanied by three servants who have borne much fruit. Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus shows us the way, she who made prayer the fuel of missionary action in the world. This is also the month of the Rosary: how much do we pray for the spread of the Gospel, to convert us from omission to mission? Then there is Saint Francis Xavier, one of the great missionaries of the Church. He also shakes us: let's get out of our shells; are we able to leave our comforts for the Gospel? And there is the Venerable Pauline Jaricot, a worker who supported the missions with her daily work: with the offerings she deducted from her salary; this was at the beginning of the Pontifical Mission Societies. And do we consider every day a gift to overcome the gap between the Gospel and life? Please do not live a sacristy faith.
We are accompanied by a religious, a priest and a lay person. They tell us that no one is excluded from the mission of the Church. Yes, in this month the Lord is also calling you. He is calling you, the father and mother of a family; you, a young man who dreams of great things; you, who works in a factory, in a shop, in a bank, in a restaurant; you, who are out of work; you, who are in a hospital bed ... The Lord asks you to make yourself a gift where you are, as you are, with those around you; not to suffer life, but to give it; not to cry on yourself, but to allow yourself to dig out from the tears of those who suffer. Take courage, the Lord expects so much from you. He also expects someone to have the courage to leave, to go where there is the most need for hope and dignity, where too many people still live without the joy of the gospel. But do I have to go alone? No, this is wrong. If we have it in mind to carry out the Church's mission as if we were a business organization, using work plans, it won't work. The protagonist of the mission is the Holy Spirit. He is the protagonist of the mission. You go with the Holy Spirit. Go, the Lord will not leave you alone; testifying, you will discover that the Holy Spirit has come before you to prepare the way. Take courage, brothers and sisters; courage, Mother Church: find your fruitfulness in the joy of the mission!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
Texto en español
Texto em português
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