From the Friars: The Missionary Call

“Go, make disciples of all nations…” (Mt 28:19) “Freely you have received. Freely give.” (Mt 10:8) The Church is missionary by its nature, and we are all called to participate in efforts to evangelize by prayer, witness and alms-giving. Holy Rosary Shrine is a missionary church, a center of evangelization. We are used to hearing appeals to make donations “to the missions,” as we will today. But the greater need is for each one of us to become a missionary.

This year’s world Mission Sunday is unique in several ways and should be a strong providential reminder that by its nature the Love of God must be shared or it will be lost. One hundred years ago in 1926 Pope Pius XI instituted this event. Archbishop Fulton Sheen was Director of the Propagation of the Faith for 16 years and was recently beatified on September 24th. Pope Leo XIV was himself a missionary in Peru. This past October 3rd was the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis, who wrote the first explicitly missionary Rule of Life for a Religious Order. And October is the month of the Rosary, a missionary prayer.

At Fatima, Our Lady asked us to pray the Rosary every day for the conversion of sinners. Blessed Fulton Sheen created the multi-colored World Mission Rosary to encourage people to pray for the whole world. St. John Paul II, the greatest missionary Pope ever, added the Luminous Mysteries to the Holy Rosary, the third of which is the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. And he gave us our marching orders for the third millennium: to contemplate the face of Christ with the eyes of Mary.

Traveling to a foreign country is what we usually think of as missionary work. But in the fullest sense of the word “missionary,” we are all sent to set the world on fire with the Love of God, even in our ordinary daily lives. And the Holy Rosary is a powerful torch to set hearts ablaze and to deepen our own internal devotion.

Do you burn with zeal for the salvation of souls? What could be more important? Please be generous with this second collection today, but much more, please be generous in giving your life to the one Who gave His life for you.

Fr. Peter