The month of October, dedicated to the missions, finds its high point in the celebration of World Mission Day, which this year falls on 23 October and revolves around the theme: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn. 20:21).
In his message for this day, Pope Benedict XVI reminds everyone that “the universal mission [of the Church] involves everyone, everything and always. The Gospel is not an exclusive possession of those who have received it. It is a gift to be shared, good news to be passed on to others. And this gift-commitment is entrusted not only to some, but to all the baptized.”
He then goes on to say that evangelization is more than ever urgent in our secularized age, in which many people live as if God did not exist.
World Mission Day offers us, as Paulines, a precious opportunity to stop and reflect on our vocation as communicators of the Gospel to the whole world.