All throughout 2025, we have been celebrating the Jubilee year of hope. The theme that Pope Francis chose for World mission Sunday prior to his death is connected to the jubilee year:“Missionaries of Hope Among all Peoples”. This theme reminds individual Christians and the entire community of the Church of our fundamental vocation to be messengers and builders of hope as we directly follow in the footsteps of Christ. In writing his message for World Mission Sunday, Pope Francis prayed that all the Catholic faithful be guided by the Spirit of God and have hearts filled with holy zeal for a new evangelizing season in the Church, bringing hope to a world that is often filled with so much darkness, confusion, and anger.
Our Gospel today tells us about a poor widow who keeps on asking an unjust judge to rule in her favor. This widow has little status in society, no husband to advocate for her, and little legal leverage. However, she is filled with determination and courage. Her persistence wears down the judge’s resistance. If an unjust judge is persuaded by the widow’s persistence, think of how our merciful God will be open to hearing our own cries for help. This parable show us how prayer is not a quick transaction. Prayer is a relationship that calls for perseverance and faith. Yet, we can struggle with our prayer life at times. Our prayer life will have its ups and downs, and we will have times in our lives when praying to God will not be easy at all. Sometimes, all we hear back from God is silence. We are called to be persistent in our prayers, whether it be convenient or inconvenient.
In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we hear about the enduring life-giving power of Scripture. Paul tells Timothy that God’s breath animates the words of Scripture. God’s word is alive and filled with the Holy Spirit. God’s word is capable of teaching us, challenging us, correcting us, and sanctifying us.
Prayer and Scripture are fundamental aspects of our Christian faith. Like the window in today’s Gospel, we are to be persistent in our prayers without losing heart. Like Timothy, we are to remain faithful to God’s word that has been handed down to us. We are called to study God’s word and to reflect upon his word, allowing his word to influence our thoughts and our actions.
On World Mission Sunday, it is appropriate that we hear about faith, perseverance, prayer, and the word of God. Missionaries follow in the footsteps of Timothy and the widow that we hear about in today’s readings. The ordained clergy, lay men and women, and consecrated religious who serve as missionaries persist in proclaiming Christ’s message in places where Catholicism is small, persecuted, or in its beginning stages. They persist in prayer and faith even in the midst of challenges, obstacles, and oppression. They are fed by God’s word. Missionaries need our help and our prayers, which is why we observe World Mission Sunday each year to promote the work of the missions and evangelization in our Church. Our second collection today supports the work of the Pontifical mission societies throughout the world in this important work. May we be inspired to be missionaries of hope among all peoples. May the spiritual and practical assistance we give missionaries continue to bring them hope in their proclamation of the Gospel in the mission territories where they serve.
Some may not realize that the Diocese of Jackson is designated as a mission diocese in our country, primarily due to the small percentage of Catholics in our Diocese and the sparse rural population that characterizes most of our state. We receive help as a mission diocese through Catholic Home Missions, the Catholic Extension Society, and the mission appeals that some of us priests undertake in which to go to other dioceses throughout the country to talk about our work as a mission diocese. However, it is important for us to still promote and support the universal missionary effort in the Church. I had a priest tell me recently that he felt that we should not be identified as a mission diocese anymore. However, that designation is not ours to give away, it is the way we are identified within the universal Catholic Church. We should never forget our roots as a mission diocese here in Mississippi.
Do we see ourselves as evangelizers with a missionary spirit? Pope Francis had stated numerous times that maintaining a missionary spirit is important for us as a Church. Do we ourselves see ourselves as individuals with a missionary spirit? Back on October 1, we celebrated the feast day of St Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who spent her vocation living in a cloistered monastery. Yet, she had a heart for the missions and always prayed for the missions and supported missionaries in different ways. She is now one of the patron saints of the missions, even though she never was sent to a foreign land as a missionary. Like Therese, may we all be missionary in spirit. Blessings to all of you as we commemorate World Mission Sunday.
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