{"id":11003,"date":"2025-10-14T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=11003"},"modified":"2025-10-10T17:31:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:31:47","slug":"world-mission-day-pope-francis-keeping-alive-the-spark-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/world-mission-day-pope-francis-keeping-alive-the-spark-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"World Mission Day. Pope Francis: keeping alive the spark of hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, World Mission Day will be celebrated on 19 October<\/strong>, in the context of the Jubilee Year<\/strong>.<\/strong> Pope Francis has chosen the theme \u201cMissionaries of Hope Among All Peoples.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In his message, Pope Francis says that this year\u2019s World Mission Day, taking place within the Jubilee Year, has at its core \u201chope.\u201d For this very reason, he explained, he chose as its motto \u201cMissionaries of Hope Among All Peoples,\u201d<\/em> pointing out that \u201cindividual Christians and the entire Church \u2014 the community of the baptised \u2014 share our fundamental vocation to be, in the footsteps of Christ, messengers and builders of hope.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In this context, the Pope expressed his wish that the Day be a time of grace, before going on to reflect on three aspects of our Christian missionary identity.<\/p>\n

Reflecting first on following the Lord\u2019s footsteps, he encouraged: \u201cMay we too feel inspired to set out in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, to become, with Him and in Him, signs and messengers of hope for all, in every place and circumstance that God has granted us to live.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Next, the Pope examined \u201cChristians, bearers and builders of hope among all peoples.\u201d<\/em> \u201cIn following Christ the Lord,\u201d<\/em> he urged, \u201cChristians are called to hand on the Good News by sharing the concrete life situations of those whom they meet, and thus to be bearers and builders of hope.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the Lord\u2019s call,\u201d<\/em> he highlighted, \u201cyou have gone forth to other nations to make known the love of God in Christ. For this, I thank you most heartily! Your lives are a clear response to the command of the risen Christ, who sent His disciples to evangelise all peoples.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In this way, the Pope told them, they are signs of the \u201cuniversal vocation\u201d<\/em> of the baptised to become, by the power of the Spirit and through daily effort, \u201cmissionaries among all peoples and witnesses to the great hope given us by the Lord Jesus.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Impelled by this great hope, he said, Christian communities can be \u201charbingers of a new humanity in a world that, in the most \u2018developed\u2019 areas, shows serious symptoms of human crisis,\u201d<\/em> witnessed through \u201ca widespread sense of bewilderment, loneliness, and indifference to the needs of the elderly, and a reluctance to make an effort to assist our neighbours in need.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In the most technologically advanced nations, the Holy Father went on to observe that \u201cproximity\u201d<\/em> is disappearing. \u201cWe are all interconnected, but not related. Obsession with efficiency and an attachment to material things and ambitions are making us self-centred and incapable of altruism.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Holy Father reassured that the Gospel, experienced in the life of a community, can restore us to \u201ca whole, healthy, redeemed humanity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

For this reason, the Pope renewed his appeal for all the faithful to pay particular attention to the poor, the weak, the elderly, and the excluded, and to do so \u201cwith God\u2019s \u2018style\u2019 of closeness, compassion, and tenderness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, the Pope turned to the third aspect: \u201cRenewing the mission of hope.\u201d<\/em> \u201cFaced with the urgency of the mission of hope today,\u201d<\/em> Pope Francis said, \u201cChrist\u2019s disciples are called first to discover how to become \u2018artisans\u2019 of hope and restorers of an often distracted and unhappy humanity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Missionaries of hope, the Holy Father reiterated, are \u201cmen and women of prayer, for the person who hopes is a person who prays.\u201d<\/em> \u201cLet us not forget,\u201d<\/em> he insisted, \u201cthat prayer is the primary missionary activity and at the same time the first strength of hope.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Keeping this in mind, the Pope urged missionaries to \u201crenew the mission of hope, starting from prayer \u2014 especially prayer based on the Word of God and particularly the Psalms, that great symphony of prayer whose composer is the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBy praying,\u201d<\/em> Pope Francis marvelled, \u201cwe keep alive the spark of hope lit by God within us, so that it can become a great fire which enlightens and warms everyone around us, also through those concrete actions and gestures that prayer itself inspires.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Evangelisation, he stressed, is always a communitarian process \u2014 like Christian hope itself. \u201cThat process does not end with the initial preaching of the Gospel and with Baptism,\u201d<\/em> he clarified, \u201cbut continues with the building up of Christian communities through the accompaniment of each of the baptised along the path of the Gospel.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Missionary work, he underscored, requires praying and acting as a community. Therefore, the Pope invited: \u201cI urge all of you \u2014 children, young people, adults, and the elderly \u2014 to participate actively in the common evangelising mission of the Church by your witness of life and prayer, by your sacrifices, and by your generosity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, Pope Francis concluded by urging all the faithful to turn to Mary, Mother of Christ our hope, reminding us to entrust to her this Jubilee, along with all the years yet to come.<\/p>\n

(Deborah Castellano Lubov \/ VN \u2013 Photo: Missio \/ ENG)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, World Mission Day will be celebrated on 19 October, in the context of the Jubilee Year. Pope Francis has chosen the theme \u201cMissionaries of Hope Among All Peoples.\u201d In his message, Pope Francis says that this year\u2019s World Mission Day, taking place within the Jubilee Year, has at its core \u201chope.\u201d For this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}