Mission is a sharing of what discipleship of Jesus means and helping people live that out in their everyday life. It is not so much a mission on Jesus as a mission of Jesus; it has to do more with dying like Christ than for Christ. It is a witnessing to what Jesus preached and stood for, namely the Reign of God. Disciples follow the footsteps of Jesus in his life, preaching, and death. It is as simple as that, but with enormous consequences for our present-day world and society, and for ourselves personally.
Mission is Right Here
This understanding and approach to mission breaks the stereotype of mission on territorial basis – as if some lands are mission countries and others mission sending countries. Mission should be pursued in every corner of the globe each with distinct focus and emphasis, dictated by the local context and socio-political conditions. Mission is not distant; it’s right here, around us, within our immediate communities and neighbourhood. Way back in 1943, a French priest, L’ Abbé Henri Godin startled the Christian world with his booklet “France, pays de mission?” – France a mission country. Today, increasingly, we understand that every nation is a mission nation.
Mission encompasses people, society, nature and environment. Vatican II provides a document, “Ad Gentes,” explicitly addressing mission. However, the true mission document of Vatican II is “Gaudium et Spes,” delving deeply into the Church’s presence and engagement in the modern world. It offers inspiration for living out Jesus’ teachings in the political, social, cultural, and economic spheres we encounter daily, either directly or indirectly. Pope Paul VI’s “Evangelii Nuntiandi” – a mission document – surpassed earlier approaches to evangelization by intimately connecting it to the social message of the Gospel and the Church’s social teachings. Ultimately, evangelization should bring about a transformation from within, permeating the various layers of human life (EN 18).
Fr Dr Felix Wilfred
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