Go Out To All The World And Tell The Good News
As members of the Body of Christ we are united with every other Catholic throughout the world. Catholics number 1.390 Billion people or 17.7 % of the world’s population. A total of 2.4 billion people (including Catholics) out of 8.2 billion people are Christian. That means of course that 5.8 billion people, for one reason or another, have not explicitly embraced Christ. We as missionary disciples have a lot of work to do to help others know the joy of the Gospel. For the most part, in our lives that introduction of others to the love of Christ is one person at a time. We should never tire of sharing the greatest love story the world has ever known with those we meet every day of our lives.
As members of His Body, most of us are not called to spread the Good News of Jesus on other shores. However, there are lay missionaries, priests, sisters, brothers and deacons who preach the Gospel to the four corners of the world on our behalf. They serve people with AIDS in Africa, they run hospitals and schools for the poor on six continents. There are missionaries committed to preaching the Gospel in European nations that have all but lost their faith in Christ. There are other men and women who stand with native bishops, priests, religious and people as they suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel. And, yes, there are missionaries who still give their lives for Christ.
These women and men need the support of our prayers and sacrifices. Every year, the Bishops of the United States ask us to support the efforts of the Church in 1,100 dioceses that “cannot sustain themselves because they are too poor, young or actively persecuted.”
Next Sunday is World Mission Sunday, which the entire Church around the globe will celebrate. One way we can share in the mission of the Church is to donate whatever we can afford in the second collection next Sunday. But let us remember the most important way we are connected to the missionaries of the Church – prayer and sacrifice. As members of the Body of Christ, their voice is our voice; their efforts are our efforts; their sacrifices are ours. We are united as Christ’s Body in the Sacrifice of the Mass. Let us make it our daily practice to consciously pray for those who carry the Gospel to places we cannot physically go.
