World Mission Sunday

To date the statistics of Christian Population shows that there are over one billion Catholics all over the world which is only one seventh of the total world population more or less. Because of this unproportioned number of catholic as compared to the world population, the Catholic Church perpetuated this Annual World Mission Sunday celebration which began 97 years ago. Pope Pius XI in 1926 instituted the Annual celebration of World Mission Sunday through a Papal Decree. Since then, every year the Universal Church has dedicated the month of October to reflection on, and prayer for the missions. In particular, the fourth Sunday of October is dedicated for the celebration of World Mission Sunday where people are gathered to pray for all the missionaries and contribute to a collection for the work of evangelization around the world. This Annual celebration reminds us of our obligation and responsibility as members of the church to take an active role in the missionary work of the church. It also gives us a chance to reflect on the importance of mission work for the life of the church and how we can become proactive in our response to the missionary challenge of the church.

In Acts 1:8 the Apostles of Christ received the Holy Spirit and were empowered to be witnesses of Jesus from Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth. Since then Christianity has widely spread from Israel (Jerusalem) to the rest of the world despite the persecution that the first Christian community had suffered from. This is mainly due to the sacrifices, commitment, dedication, zeal and conviction of the early missionaries dated from the apostolic times to the present. Statistics above show how many Catholics now excluding other Christian denominations. Ironically, the origin of Christianity, the chosen people are the first ones to reject the gift of salvation being offered to them through faith in Jesus the Christ who is the Messiah of God. As of this writing, Israel is in violent conflict with the terrorist group “Hamas”, the political leader in Palestine and with other groups whose primary motive is to annihilate Israel from the face of the earth. Thousands of people died from both sides as a result of this on-going conflict. During the holocaust in the Second World War there were six million Jews who perished because of anti-Semitism. And in the present war, how many more lives will be taken and sacrificed for the battle where there will be no victors? Is this God’s punishment for their rejection of Jesus or merely a consequence of missed opportunity to accept and embrace the Messiah whom they are waiting for?

This World Mission Sunday celebration is strongly challenged by this current situation in Israel. The question is, how do we respond to this challenge as Christian, as Catholic? “Pope Francis in his World Mission Sunday message in 2013, challenged us to proclaim courageously and in every situation the Gospel of Christ– a message of Hope, Reconciliation, and Communion. We are challenged to be “Witnesses of Christ” committed to bring Peace, and Reconciliation, and commissioned to eliminate discrimination and prejudices starting from our own local community the rest of the world.

Our Prayer for Peace and Reconciliation in Israel and its neighboring Arab nations. Mary, our Lady of the Rosary, Pray for us and the whole world!

Happy World Mission Sunday!