MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II
FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 1983

 

Venerable brothers and dearest sons and daughters of the Church!

1. This year, World Mission Day acquires a very special importance from the celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee of the Redemption. In issuing it, I recalled the exhortation I addressed to the world from the beginning of my pontificate: “Open the doors to Christ!”; and, in fact, the Jubilee is a strong invitation to conversion and reconciliation, an appeal to become ever more aware of the grace of Baptism, and to adhere generously to the Gospel, which is the announcement of Redemption and salvation for all men.

Therefore, by reminding every Christian of the riches brought to the world by the Redemption, the Jubilee thereby acquires a significant missionary significance. It becomes a renewed call for the evangelization of those millions of people who, 1,950 years after the redemptive sacrifice of Calvary, are not yet Christians and cannot, in suffering or joy, invoke the name of the Savior, because they do not yet know him.

Therefore, if one wants to be authentic Christians, one cannot fail to desire a full sharing in the marvelous gift of the Redemption also with these brothers. In other words, the relationship with God the Father and with Christ Jesus, far from being just an individual relationship, is a relationship that involves all of humanity, and is therefore inserted into an unequivocally missionary dimension.

Christ is the Redeemer of all men, he died for all, he gave himself as a ransom for all (cf. 2Cor 5,15; 1Tm 2,6; 1Jn 2,2) and calls each one of us, not only to personal reconciliation, but also to be an instrument of redemption for those who are not yet redeemed: “Go… and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19-20).

Sublime honor but also solemn imperative that challenges our conscience on the greatest commandment of Christ’s message: “Love one another as I have loved you” (cf. Jn 15:12.17).

Isn’t Redemption perhaps the practical realization of that plan of love which Christ wanted us to continue? Therefore, the more we will be able to say that we love our brothers and sisters, the more we have worked and operated to communicate to them the saving Word of Christ himself and the fruits of the Redemption. May everyone make the apostle’s words their own: “The love of Christ impels us!” (2 Cor 5:14).

As I wrote in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Year, “in the rediscovery and lived practice of the sacramental economy of the Church, through which the grace of God in Christ reaches individuals and the community, one must see the profound meaning and the arcane beauty of this Year which the Lord allows us to celebrate. On the other hand, it must be clear that this strong time, during which every Christian is called to realize more deeply his vocation to reconciliation with the Father in the Son, will fully achieve its purpose only if it leads to a new commitment of each one and of all at the service of peace among all peoples” (“Aperite portas Redemptori”, 3).

Therefore, entering into the spirit of the Jubilee Year is equivalent to immersing oneself in the missionary spirit, to turning one’s heart not only to the depths of one’s own conscience, but also to all those who are our brothers and sisters and have the right to know Christ and to enjoy the riches of his Heart «dives in Misericordia».

2. There is no greater service to man than the missionary one.

This year’s World Mission Day is therefore in full harmony with the theological and pastoral content of the Extraordinary Jubilee. I repeat, therefore, with a heart full of solicitude: “Open, indeed throw wide open the doors to Christ!”. Let’s go to the Savior, let’s bring him to all men! Let us carry it with the enthralling and persuasive force of the Holy Spirit, invoked and obtained with missionary prayer!

Let us bear it, uniting our daily sufferings, even the humblest and most hidden ones, to the great sacrifice of the Cross, to embellish them and give them a redemptive value for our brothers and sisters.

Let us carry it, supporting with our solidarity, with our appreciation, with our multiple help those generous people who in the most complete detachment work on the advanced frontiers of the Kingdom of God for the proclamation of the Gospel.

I address myself in a special way to young people, who are the hope of the Church, my hope. May they direct their enthusiasm, their exuberance of energy and feelings, their ardor and their audacity to the holy cause of the missions. St. Francis Xavier, from the distant Indies where he proclaimed the message of salvation, perhaps did not think of his numerous university peers in Paris, affirming that, if they had known the immense needs of the missionary world, they would not have hesitated to join him in the spiritual conquest of the world Christ?

I therefore say to young people: Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid to abandon yourselves to Christ, to dedicate your life to him, in generous service to the highest of ideals, the missionary one. An exciting, busy engagement awaits you.

3. Cooperation, the Duty of all Christians.

In the same way, I hope that all the faithful will allow themselves to be involved and bring their personal contribution to the great movement of “missionary cooperation” which finds in the Pontifical Mission Societies the qualified, most suitable and most efficient instruments for spiritually and materially promoting the of the pioneers of the Gospel (see Ad Gentes, 38).

But for believers to fully realize the unavoidable need for their collaboration, it is indispensable that they be sensitized to the problem by those who have the very important task of missionary animation; that is, by priests and religious.

The animation by the leaders of the People of God is indispensable because a concrete awareness of the faithful of the problem of evangelization and therefore their commitment in the sector of cooperation depends on them. A commitment all the more necessary and urgent if one considers that missionary activity, which also includes the indispensable construction of churches, schools, seminaries, universities, welfare centres, etc. for the religious and human promotion of so many brothers, is greatly conditioned by many difficulties of an economic nature.

And what better structures than the Pontifical Mission Societies, to which I mentioned above, can be resorted to to implement this capillary awareness program and to organize the network of universal charity?

I am aware that in recent times “centers of missionary animation” are springing up in many nations. I warmly recommend these initiatives which are so useful for a theological, pastoral and spiritual study of missionary doctrine. I myself will have the joy of inaugurating the new headquarters of one of these centres, the International Center for Missionary Animation (CIAM), located at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, which is so dear to me.

On this World Mission Day, therefore, the Church, mother and teacher, solicits the good of all, precisely through the aforementioned Pontifical Societies, extends her hand to gather the help of men of good will.

Offering this generous help is a duty, an honor, and a joy, because it means helping to bring the priceless benefits of the Redemption to those who do not yet know the “unfathomable riches of Christ” (cf. Eph 3:8).

Even the new Code of Canon Law, which dedicates an entire part of Book II to missionary activity (canons 781-792), explicitly establishes the obligation for all the faithful to collaborate – each according to his possibilities – in the work of evangelization, in the awareness of one’s own responsibility, deriving from the intrinsically missionary nature of the Church (cf. canon 781). Likewise, all missionary cooperation acquires juridical recognition which, as stated in canon 791, must be fostered in all dioceses, according to four basic directives which are: the promotion of missionary vocations; due priestly assistance for missionary initiatives, above all for the development of the Pontifical Mission Societies; the celebration of Mission Day; the annual collection of economic aid for the missions, to be sent to the Holy See.

4. From the Holy Year an Invitation to Hope.

I sincerely hope that all the forces of the Church, of the People of God, in this difficult hour that humanity is experiencing, full of threats, but also a harbinger of hope, will mobilize – drawing a renewed spiritual charge from this Year Saint of the Redemption – so that the proclamation of the Gospel may reach the peoples and peoples of the earth in an ever wider and deeper way.

Finally, I express all my gratitude to those who – priests, men and women religious, lay people – both in the front line and in the various fields of the Church and with the most diverse activities, contribute effectively to the expansion of the Kingdom of God, while to them and to their loved ones with a big heart I impart the apostolic blessing, propitiatory of heavenly favours.

From the Vatican, 10 June, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1983

JOHN PAUL II

 

Credit: Dicastery for Communication, to the Holy See