Missionary Church

The Second Vatican council termed the Church as the Universal Sacrament of Salvation. Since the church is missionary by her very nature we bear the responsibility in making the sacrament of salvation known and proclaimed everywhere and to everyone.

The church demands that every disciple of Christ has the obligation to do his or her part in spreading the faith. St. Paul tells us “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel (1 Cor 9.16). Our previous Pope, JP II in his encyclical, ‘Redemptoris Missio’ cautions us that no believer in Christ, no institutions of the Church can avoid the supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all people.

We are sent as missionaries because Christ was sent as a missionary. Christ lived, proclaimed the message of love and died and risen for that supreme message. We follow Christ in our missionary spirit. Jesus did not work for a church: a closed-in community cared for the salvation of a few, rather he preached the Kingdom of God: a wider reality, including everyone in the world. He is the Lord of all. Our God is the God of the universe. Church has the humility and works for the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.

The Spirit is the principal agent of mission. Spirit inspired the apostles to preach the gospel on Pentecost and ever after,. The Spirit directs the Church’s mission. Since we cannot withdraw from our permanent mission by bringing the gospel to people which is our permanent mission of bringing the gospel to people which is our fundamental, essential and never-ending activity, we proclaim the Word of God by witnessing. People trust in witnesses than in teachers, actions rather than in theories.

Let us pray that we be aware of our vocation as missionaries and proclaim Christ’s message of love through our witnessing and living. Amen.