Every year, something special happens on the second last Sunday of October. On this day, the Church reflects its deepest identity as the Church in mission. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics of the whole world unite at Mass to recommit ourselves to our vocation, through Baptism, to be missionaries. Every October we join the Catholics around the world, along with the Holy Father, as we celebrate the World Mission Sunday. We are called to think about the mission and missionaries. These unite us in the one call to God’s mission in the world. So, World Mission Day is a very important day in the life of the Church. It aims to make us more aware of what Christ wants us to do in this regard.

The Pope’s message for the 2014 World Mission Sunday Celebration has the theme, “I will Build My Church” (Mt. 16:18), and it invites all of us to reach out to help their mission family all over the world to provide pastoral and sacramental care. Through these pastoral initiatives, and their witness to Christ, the needy communities receive practical help and experience of God’s love and mercy, His Hope and Peace. The Church is called to “transmit the joy of the Lord to her Children”, Pope Francis tells us, as members of the Church, united as the One Body of Christ, we are called to support, in prayer and sacrifice, the Church’s mission to bring that joy to people everywhere, especially, as Pope Francis urges, “the poorest, the weakest, the least important…”

Archbishop George Antonysamy.

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