Each year, the Catholic Church in the United States designates the 3rd Sunday in the month of September as “Catechetical Sunday”. Catechetical Sunday is a day on which we celebrate and pray for the Church’s mission to teach the Gospel to all people. Each year there is a special theme: this year’s theme is “Living as Missionary Disciples”. Catechists are to respond to a call that we have to share the gift of faith with others, even as we deepen our own faith. This call can come to us in many different ways, but, ultimately, this calling comes from God, through the Holy Spirit working in us, guiding us, and inspiring us.
In Pope Francis’ first apostolic exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, he writes: “I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything so that the Church's customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today's world rather than for her self-preservation.” (Evangelii Gaudium 27). What do we make of these words as we celebrate Catechetical Sunday, as we are called to be evangelizers of the Gospel and missionary disciples? Yes, religious education, we have a responsibility to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. But, on the other hand, how many of us priests, catechists, and parents, consider our classrooms and parish halls missionary territory?
The dream of Pope Francis around transformation gives us a key to understand what the call to missionary discipleship is all about. This missionary call is a day-to-day, moment-to-moment commitment to being Christ-bearers to all those we meet, to bring the message of Jesus Christ to them. Catechists do this as they draw others into prayer, as they provide instruction around our Catholic beliefs and practices, as they encourage reflection and application to our life experiences, and as they build community among their learners.
A goal of this missionary spirit is to become what Paul describes in his letter to the Romans: that we live and die not for ourselves, that we live and die for the Lord. All of us are to live the example that our catechists give us: serving as missionary disciples by carrying our faith outward, transforming the world around us in ways that are both small and powerful, through our generosity, our kindness, our compassion, and our understanding. Our catechists and all of us as modern-day disciples of Christ are to follow the example of the first apostles as we are called to evangelize out of the love we have for God’s holy word and out of the deep faith we have in God’s compassion and mercy. With faith and love, through our own catechesis and through evangelization, we can indeed transform the world.
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