The centrality in missionary activity belongs to Christ: Card. Filoni
Maracaibo, Venezuela, 27 Nov 2013: ‘Church’s true and profound nature is missionary..
and in this Congress, we place Christ at the center and, as our Master, we intend
to listen to His voice, to welcome His message, allowing it to enter our hearts and
to prepare us for the mission. This is exactly the theme chosen for this Congress:
to make ourselves “Missionary Disciples of Jesus Christ from America in a Secularized
and Multicultural World”. Cardinal Fernando Filoni made these remarks on Tuesday during
his homily at the solemn celebration of the opening of the 4th American
Missionary Congress, and the 9th Latin American Missionary Congress being
held from 26 November to 1st December in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Pope Francis
has appointed as his Special Envoy to the two events Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect
of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Later, at the opening of the Congress, Cardinal Filoni invited all the participants to look at the moment with Jesus' eyes. When his eyes met those of his disciples, he saw that they needed a moment of peace and reflection and he called them aside. The centrality of Jesus' person and mission was such that “The apostles gathered together with Jesus”. We also see that the Apostles' missionary activity was submitted to the Lord's examination so that the preaching and activity would not be carried out fruitlessly: “They reported all they had done and taught”. We also see the reaction of Jesus to the crowd that was looking for him: “They were like sheep without a shepherd”.
The centrality in missionary activity belongs to Christ, the Lord who walks in our midst, prays to the Father and sends us the Holy Spirit. It is for this reason that the missionary message and the witness of those who bring it gives rise to joy in those who listen and accept it.
The Cardinal also spoke of the many times Pope Francis referred to missionary activity. Referring to the 5th Conference of Aparecida in 2006, the Pope had elaborated the commitment to the mission in a broad, clear way and criticized temptations such as “making the Gospel message an ideology” or “sociological reductionism”. Pope Francis proposed rather a “missionary discipleship” that puts Jesus at the center, which calls for an encounter with him, a call or invitation from him and following him. The Cardinal said that the theme of the present Congress reflects the same.
The Congress must be a moment of renewal of our missionary commitment with our Churches and with the Churches that make the first proclamation of the Gospel in other countries and in other sociocultural situations”. The ideal and the praxis of the mission in these decades have been subject to an on-going process of transformation. For this reason, it is urgent and necessary to re-read and re-interpret the whole Christian mystery and reaffirm the centrality and uniqueness of Christ, the mediator and Savior.
The participation of all the Churches in the universal mission means that all the Churches are for all the world. The task to evangelize to the ends of the earth has been entrusted to the Church, to all the particular Churches, and to everyone in the Church, said the Cardinal.
Organized by the Pontifical Missionary and the Archdiocese of Maracaibo, the Congress will be attended by 4,000 missionaries in all the Church in Latin America, and they will delve into topics such as discipleship, conversion, secularism, multiculturalism and the mission. Source: VR Sedoc
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