Today is World Mission Sunday which celebrates the love and mercy of God as we extend His caring heart to our neighbor half a world away, through our prayers and sacrifices.
In 1926, Pope Pius XI instituted World Mission Sunday. He asked for prayer, celebration, and offerings for the Missions. His concern was to generate a sense of responsibility in God’s people for supporting the Missions throughout the world. The first commemoration was in 1927 and the Pope asked that it would be observed in every diocese, parish, and institute so it was to be a true World Mission Sunday.
Many of our own families and parishes are still financially struggling because of the pandemic, high inflation, and rising prices of about everything. Can you imagine how mission parishes are surviving without the infrastructure we have, the health care available to us, and many other commodities available to us that we just take for granted? But even in the midst of a worldwide crisis, the work of evangelization continues in mission dioceses far and wide. While they do not have the technologies and medical care we enjoy in our country, the Church in mission lands continues to minister to God’s people in a heroic fashion. Missionaries remind all of us that Jesus is in our midst and that no one is left alone in this global crisis.
The collection taken today will provide support for the life-giving and hope-filled work and witness of priests, religious, and lay pastoral leaders in mission regions of the world. Your prayers and generous support will directly benefit and support the Mission Church today. That support reaches clinics caring for the sick and dying, orphanages providing a place of safety and shelter, schools offering education from kindergarten through high school. Your help also provides for seminarians preparing for the priesthood, and religious Sisters and Brothers in formation programs. All of this takes place in over 1,100 mission dioceses, mostly in Africa and Asia, where the poorest of the poor receive an education and health care while experiencing the loving heart of our Lord through the service of priests, religious, and lay faithful.
Thank you for your generous support.
God bless, Fr. Gregg
Pope Francis’s Mission Prayer
“Heavenly Father, when your only begotten Son Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he commissioned his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” and you remind us that through our Baptism we are made sharers in the mission of the Church. Empower us by the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be courageous and zealous in bearing witness to the Gospel, so that the mission entrusted to the Church, which is still very far from completion, may find new and efficacious expressions that bring life and light to the world. Help us make it possible for all peoples to experience the saving love and mercy of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.”