Mission Sunday 23 October 2011

22 Sept 2011

WORLD MISSION DAY –  23 October 2011

Dear Faithful Catholics

The grace and love of God be with you all.

We are aware that the Good News of the Lord Jesus is for everybody

As the month of October draws near we are once again reminded about our holy communion with God’s active love for the salvation of the whole world in Christ Jesus. We who enjoy the saving blessings of God because of our faith in the Lord Jesus are called to share these blessings and thus give glory to the Divine Giver. The Holy Spirit impels us to tell others about the wonderful spiritual benefits we enjoy because of Jesus Christ’s Self-gift to us in the Church. We are not able to keep quiet about such Good News and we want everybody to see and hear about Christ Jesus’ saving love so that everybody can enjoy what we enjoy. This desire is what can be called the fundamental missionary spirit of all faithful members of the Catholic Church.

World Mission Sunday is a reminder to all of us that as members of a particular Christian community and local Catholic Church, we recognise and give witness to this universal outreach of God in Christ Jesus.

We pray for missionaries of the Catholic Church of our Lord

And so we pray for Catholic missionaries especially those who are in very difficult and oppressive situations in different parts of the world. We intercede for them before God knowing that “nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8,35) unless they themselves abandon their faith in Christ. We join our intercessions with the prayers of the October saints namely: St Therese of the Child Jesus, St Daniel Comboni, Blessed Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa Martyrs, St Francis of Assisi, St Theresa of Avila, Our Lady of the Rosary, St Luke the Evangelist and Saints Simon and Jude Apostles.

We support financially the missionary work of the Catholic Church

We also contribute from our financial resources to the World Mission Sunday collection and we do so with joy knowing from our own experience how we continue to benefit from this same fund for many of our missionary projects in this diocese. And we are also aware of the many and often greater missionary needs in other countries and nations of the world. May we be as generous as we were last year.

I wish to thank you for your spiritual and material support of the Church’s mission.

May St Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us and protect our missionaries in Tzaneen Diocese.

Bishop Joao Rodrigues

Diocese of Tzaneen