“You shall be my witnesses”: this was the slogan of World Mission Day 2022, celebrated on Sunday, 23 October. The Daughters of St. Paul of Brescia wanted to commemorate this anniversary in union with the other parishes of their diocese, fostering the desire to be close through prayer and offerings to the people of Pakistan, affected by severe flooding.
In order to spread awareness and enthusiasm for the missionary life, the FSP Book and Media Center of Brescia programmed a number of events. First, a book exhibit of publications about the missions was proposed to the parish communities, many of which collaborated very willingly with this project. Priests and volunteers prepared book stalls where parishioners could leave an offering for Pakistan and choose good reading for themselves. Because witnessing is so important, the sisters invited two non-Italian FSP missionaries currently living in Italy–Sr. Emma Umurerwa from Rwanda and Sr. Anna Matikova from Slovakia–to participate in this initiative. Both sisters visited three parishes to give a personal face to the missionary experience, recounting their stories of life in the missions during the various Eucharistic Celebrations. They also made themselves available to the people by working in the book stand alongside Sr. Veronica Bernasconi and the other members of the Brescia community and their helpers. In addition, Sr. Emma and Sr. Veronica met with a group of children during their Sunday catechism lesson and reflected with them on what it means to be good news for people today, that is, a living Gospel for others. Finally, during the Mass for teenagers and young adults, Sr. Veronica shared with the young people her brief experience as a missionary in Africa.
Our sisters thank the Lord for their encounters with the parishioners of Brescia, for all the good they experienced there, and for the chance to see the joy and generosity with which so many local people participated in this significant anniversary of the Church.
