The Church around the world celebrated World Mission Sunday on 24th October. This day highlights the work being done by missionaries who are living in situations of difficulty and also offers people the chance to express solidarity and remember them in prayer. The Pope has chosen the theme for this day is: We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard.
Pope Francis paid tribute to missionaries around the world. “Once we experience the power of God’s love we cannot help but proclaim and share what we have seen and heard. Jesus’ relationship with His disciples and His humanity shows us to the extent to which God loves our humanity and makes His own our joys and sufferings, our hopes, and our concerns,” the Pontiff said.
The Irish Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly, the Chairperson of the newly re-branded Missio Ireland, recalled the ‘heroes of mission’ around the world.”Great call for us to acknowledge the witness that is being given at this time; the witness of so many Christian communities in the world, and that witness is so strong that we cannot but speak about it, and I think that is one of the aspects of this Mission Sunday that is so important,” he was speaking to Vatican Radio last year.
The Archbishop also added that the pandemic has taught us about the mission and it transformed the mission throughout the world in many aspects, in that it has heightened the dependence all of us have on each other on the brotherhood and the sisterhood of the human race.