Homily of Most Rev. Kieran O’Reilly, SMA,
Archbishop of Cashel & Emly
Mission Sunday
October 20th 2019
Introduction
I welcome you to today’s celebration Of Mission Sunday. A day in which the church throughout the world, whether it is in a fine cathedral like this one here in Thurles or the most remote mass centre in one of the many missionary dioceses of the world, gathers to pray with a single purpose: To recall that mission has been entrusted to each baptised member of the Church to bring the Good News of salvation of Jesus Christ.
Our thoughts and prayers at this celebration are with our missionaries from our own Diocese and from our country, especially those who may be in situations of difficulty and civil unrest.
Homily
Mission Month this year has been named, by Pope Francis, an Extraordinary Month of Mission. Pope Francis calls for a renewed commitment to bring the Gospel to all peoples. This year 2019, marks the one hundredth anniversary since the publication by Pope Benedict XV of the first mission document of the twentieth century with his mission document titled “Maximum Illud” – “that momentous call”. The Holy Father signalled the beginning of a new journey to understand more fully that “Momentous call” of the Lord to “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to all creation” (Mk 16:15).
He acknowledges the great strides undertaken by missionaries over the past one hundred years. It is not over, the call to go and bring the Good News of salvation to all peoples remains valid.
In that year, 1919, in the wake of the tragic global conflict of World War I, Pope Benedict XV called it a “useless slaughter,” He recognised the need for a more evangelical approach to missionary work in the world, so that it would be purified of any colonial overtones and kept far away from the nationalistic and expansionistic aims that had proved so disastrous. “The Church of God is universal; she is not alien to any people,” he wrote.
Ireland has a great tradition of involvement in the modern missionary outreach of the Church. From every parish in Ireland men and women travelled literally to the ends of the earth as missionaries. Through their lives of witness and the work of their missionary Institutes they contributed enormously to the mission entrusted to the Church by the Lord. It is an involvement that we can all be rightly proud of.
In our own Diocese we still have many men and women on mission in different parts of the world. Many of you here will recall missionaries perhaps family members or neighbours returning home and recounting stories of how they lived and worked on mission.
You have supported them with your prayers and financial resources over the years and I thank you for that as I know how important it is.
Pope Francis wishes, in our time, to re-awaken the commitment of the entire church to what is “Mission to the Nations” or “Missio ad Gentes” – a commitment to evangelization that will bring the Gospel to all peoples and, also, to “ taking up again with renewed fervour the missionary transformation of the Church’s life and pastoral activity”. This task, he says, is an “essential task” as Vatican II stressed – the Church is missionary by her very nature.
To do this the Church in mission countries needs our prayers and our financial support. That is why today every community throughout the world are praying for the success of the Church’s mission and also sharing their resources – however small, in helping to contribute to the task of preaching the Gospel to the ends of earth. ” Please give your support to today’s collection for the Missions.
Pope Francis in his letter when he called for the Extraordinary Month of Mission to be celebrated throughout the church, said “that missionary activity ‘renews the Church, revitalizes faith and Christian identity, and offers fresh enthusiasm and new incentive. Faith is strengthened when it is given to others! It is in commitment to the Church’s universal mission that the new evangelization of Christian peoples will find inspiration and support.”
As we recall and celebrate our Missionaries throughout the world. Pope Francis also calls on us not to be afraid to undertake, with trust in God and great courage, “a missionary option capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation”. Pope Francis
As we recall with joy the work of our missionaries, It is good at this moment of prayer to remember the missionaries who may be in difficult situations because of war and civil unrest.
I particularly ask you to remember a colleague of mine – Fr. Pier Luigi Maccalli SMA, from Italy, who was kidnapped in Niger, on 17th September 2018. He is still in the hands of his captors and I commend him to your thoughts and prayers. We remember the small missionary communities that he served as pastor in Niger and pray for his safe return.
We commend all our missionaries to the care and love of Mary, Queen of Apostles.
Extraordinary Month of Mission Prayer
Heavenly Father
When your only begotten Son
Jesus Christ rose form the dead,
He commissioned his followers to
“go and make disciples of all nations”
And you remind us that through
our Baptism we are made sharers
in the mission of the Church.
Help us make it possible
for all peoples to experience the saving
love and mercy of Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever.
Amen