Today, with the universal Church, we celebrate World Missions Sunday. Pope Francis’ message for World Mission Sunday this year reflects on the theme taken from the Acts of the Apostles: “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). The Pope states that “as Christians, we cannot keep the Lord to ourselves,” as we “recall with gratitude all those men and women who by their testimony of life help us to renew our baptismal commitment to be generous and joyful apostles of the Gospel.”
World Mission Sunday is something special to us in the Diocese of Jackson, as we are designated a mission diocese. Also, as most of you know, I spent a good part of my life in mission service in the Church. But even if we have not been to the missions ourselves in a faraway land, we are all called to be missionaries in our own corner of the world. Indeed, in a sense, we can say that the whole world right now in mission territory.
On World Mission Sunday, we are called to join our Holy Father in supporting his missions. As we pray and respond here at home in Mississippi, we share in those celebrations taking place in parishes and schools throughout the world. Together, through our prayers and financial support, we bring the Lord’s mercy and concrete help to the most vulnerable communities in the Pope’s missions.
In a world where so much divides us, World Mission Sunday rejoices in our unity as missionaries by our baptism, as it offers us an opportunity to support the life-giving presence of the Church among the poor and marginalized in more than 1,000 mission dioceses throughout the world.
Blessings - Father Lincoln
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