Who’s a missionary in the Catholic Church?
A missionary is person who is sent by Church authority to preach the Gospel, or help strengthen the faith already professed, among people in a given place or region. They are people who have sacrificed their own comfort zones to serve the spiritual and physical needs of people whose lives are different from theirs. Both people that are close or far from them.
What is mission Sunday?
World Mission Sunday is an important day in the Catholic Church it is Sunday celebrated by the Catholic Church around the world to publicly renew its dedication to the missionary movement, coordinated by the Pontifical Mission Societies, who are also known as Missio. It is celebrated on second to last Sunday of October every year. It’s is a Sunday that teaches us how to give: as an offering made to God, in the Eucharistic celebration and for all the missions of the world”.
What does it mean to be a missionary
When Jesus Christ was ascending into heaven he said to his Apostles “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Being a missionary means being a person who’s willing to sacrifice his Lifestyle, comfort zone, physical needs etc. To go and share the good news of the lord to people especially people in remote places and people living in troubled Areas. Sharing the gospel of the lord to them, serving their physical needs and building up their faith in the Church.
John 3:16 says “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son”; Then in John 20:21 Jesus said “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”. This means that the missionary work isn’t for only Priests or people that belong to one congregation or the other. All members of the Church are called to share their gifts in faith to build up the Body of Christ and to make the name of Jesus known and loved in our time.
Being a missionary doesn’t necessarily mean traveling to far distance or remote places to share the word of God, you can evangelize to your co workers, family members, friends etc.
Being a missionary means being dedicated to do the work and face every challenge that comes with it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean being a full time missionary. Some people can be doing there daily work and volunteer for Catholic charity work during their free time. Others can take a full break from their daily work and go for a short term missionary work which can involve traveling to a remote place. Anyone that has faith in our lord Jesus Christ can have a missionary calling and can answer it.
As a person who’s incapable of going for missionary journeys, you can be part of the missionary work by supporting the missionaries all around the world, financially or materially. These missionaries doesn’t have work that pays them, so they will need your assistance in providing food, shelters and other life necessities to the less privilege, poor or people in a danger zone like war zones etc.
What do Catholic missionaries do
- Daily prayer : Missionaries are people who pour out all their energies in serving the people, so they always need to pray for God’s grace to continue their work and to always be aware that God is with them. They also pray for the people they serve or minister to so that the Holy Spirit will help them repent.
- Evangelization : They spread the good news of the lord to all nation. Evangelism is the most important act of missionary work. Paul asked numbers of rhetorical questions to make the point that a person must hear the message before they can believe, and they can only hear if someone preaches. Preaching the gospel doesn’t necessarily mean speaking in the crowd, it can be one on one talk with an individual.
- Sacrifice : Another important part of missionary work is Sacrifice. Missionaries are people who sacrificed their comfort zones to travel in a harsh environment, some also risk their lives in the process to make sure that more souls are touched.
- Provide people’s needs : Missionaries also provide the needs of the people they work for, they provide their physical needs like food, shelter, water, medication, education etc. Missionaries around the world may not have the ability to provide all of these needs but with your help they can help the people that are in need and if you are Person willing to help the missionaries around the world you can click here to help make it possible.
Four fields the church uses to carry out its missions
- First, there is the Pastoral Mission which is the perpetual work to build up the members of the Catholic Church.
- Second, there is the Mission to the ends of the earth where the Gospel of Jesus is shared. This can mean travelling to remote places and danger zones to share the gospel of the lord.
- Third, there is the mission field of transforming the world which means contributing toward bringing about God’s kingdom in our time.
- Finally, there is the mission of the new evangelization. This is the attempt to reach out to those who may have faded from the Catholic faith or become separated for any reasons or the other.
