“One in Christ, united in mission” is the theme of the World Missions Day which next year will mark the 100th anniversary of its establishment by Pope Pius XI, at the suggestion of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
The theme of World Mission Day 2026 recalls the motto of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV: “In Illo uno unum,” which means “In the One, we are one.” There is to be unity of in all believers in faith, based on the unity with Christ with the Father, and the consequent common mission of evangelization that we are all to share. Pope Leo XIV sees World Mission Sunday as a special occasion when the whole Church unites in prayer for missionaries and for the fruitfulness of their apostolic work. Recalling his personal experience as a missionary priest and then missionary bishop in Peru, he stated: “I saw first-hand how faith, prayer and generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities.”
World Mission Sunday is not about specific people or specific places. Instead, it is about taking a moment out of our busy lives to look outward and to think of others, of claiming a share of the responsibility for the care of our brothers and sisters across the globe in sharing our faith with them. World Mission Sunday is rooted in the understanding that the Church is missionary at its core. We are interconnected as a global Catholic community. Our Catholic faith is not a private possession, but a gift meant to be shared.
This year’s World Mission Sunday takes on a special meaning coming soon after the Beatification Mass of Bishop Fulton Sheen, which took place on September 24 in St Louis. Sheen served as the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966.
Funds collected on World Mission Sunday help sustain over 1,000 mission dioceses, primarily in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands. However, the United States alone has 70 dioceses that are considered mission dioceses, including the Diocese of Jackson. These funds help train seminarians and catechists, construct schools and clinics, and operate vital social ministries. In areas ravaged by poverty, conflict or climate crises, this assistance ensures that local churches can remain resilient beacons of hope.
As Catholics, we are called to make a difference in the world. World Mission Sunday is a wonderful opportunity to reach out in prayer and gift to those in need.
In our second reading today, from the beginning of St Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul and his companions praise the Thessalonians for not only proclaiming the Gospel to others, but also for living in the virtues of faith, hope, and love. This contracts to the way that the Pharisees are more concerned about trapping Jesus with their questions and accusing him of breaking God’s law. The first letter to the Thessalonians is considered the earliest surviving letter written by Paul, written around the year 50 AD. Paul and his companions had founded this community on his second missionary journey to this prosperous capital of Macedonia. Paul expressed his joy at knowing that the Thessalonians had continued to persevere in their faith.
Saturday of this weekend we celebrated the feast day of St Daniel Comboni, the founder of the missionary order with which I served as a consecrated lay missionary in Ecuador. I had heard stories of Daniel Comboni traveling across Egypt and Sudan for four months in a caravan of camels in the mid-19th century to travel to his mission site. All of his missionary companions accompanying on that journey died from disease before they arrived. Comboni himself died at the age of 50, the harsh missionary life in Africa taking a toll on him. It is important for us to support the missions financially and with our prayers. But it is equally important for us to have that missionary spirit that sent Daniel Comboni and other missionaries to foreign lands. We can reach out to others in that same missionary spirit in our own corner of the world.
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