World Mission Sunday - a message from John Paul II

The annual recurrence of World Mission Sunday, which will be celebrated this coming October 22, 2000, is a call for renewed awareness of the Church’s missionary dimension and a reminder of the urgency of missionary activity ad gentes which "is a matter for all Christians, for all dioceses and parishes, Church institutions and associations" (Redemptoris Missio 2).

This year World Mission Sunday is enriched with significance in the light of the Great Jubilee, a year of grace, the celebration of the salvation which God, out of his merciful love, offers to all humanity. To recall the 2,000 years since the birth of Jesus means to celebrate also the birth of mission: Christ is the first and the greatest missionary of the Father. Born with the Incarnation of the Word, missionary activity continues in time through the proclamation and witness of the church. The Jubilee is a favorable time for the whole church to work, thanks to the Spirit, with new missionary impulse.

I therefore address a special, heartfelt appeal to all the baptized to be heralds of the Gospel, with humble courage, responding to the call for the Lord and the needs of the men and women of our day. I am thinking of the Bishops, priests, Religious men and women, the laity; I am thinking of catechists and other pastoral operators who, at different levels, make mission ad gentes the very reason of their existence, persevering despite great difficulties. The church is grateful for the dedication of all those who very often "sow in tears" (see Psalm 126:6). They must know that their efforts and their suffering will not be lost; indeed, they will be leaven which causes to germinate in the hearts of other apostles a desire to give themselves to the noble cause of the Gospel.