World Mission Day - October 20
World Mission Sunday October 20, is celebrated in every Catholic community in the world. All the baptised are missionaries and we participate in God’s mission by bringing the Good News that God is with us here and now and desires to give everyone abundant life.
Go and invite everyone to the banquet (Mt 22:9)
'The theme I have chosen for this year’s World Mission Day is taken from the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet (cf. Mt 22:1-14). After the guests refused his invitation, the king, the main character in the story, tells his servants: “Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find”.
It is timely for all of us, as missionary disciples of Christ, during this final stage of the synodal journey that, in the words of its motto, “Communion, Participation, Mission”, seeks to refocus the Church on her primary task, which is the preaching of the Gospel in today’s world.'
Pope Francis Message 2024.
How are we to interpret this?
Pope Francis explains:
“Go and invite!”
Mission as a tireless going out to invite others to the Lord’s banquet.
“To the marriage feast”
While the world sets before us the various “banquets” of consumerism, selfish comfort, the accumulation of wealth and individualism, the Gospel calls everyone to the divine banquet, marked by joy, sharing, justice and fraternity in communion with God and with others.”
“Everyone”
This is the heart of mission: that ‘all’, is excluding no one… The mission for all requires the commitment of all. We need to continue our journey towards a fully synodal and missionary Church in the service of the Gospel.
Read the complete message from Pope Francis HERE
Prayer for missionaries
Help us, Lord, to be missionaries wherever we are. Teach us to see You in our sisters and brothers – regardless of race or language. Help us to live our lives in such a way that our actions and words proclaim You as Christ, the Lord. Amen.
More information
MissioNZ website gives you information about projects
https://missio.nz/mission-sunday-2024/
Donate to Missio Aotearoa here: https://missio.nz/donate/