It is 22nd October 2017. We celebrate the Mission Sunday on this Twenty-ninth Sunday of the Ordinary time. Let us gratefully remember all our missionaries who are working with us today in our missions and parishes and all those missionaries who made us to know Christ and gone before us. Support them in every possible way you can to build the kingdom of Justice, Peace and Truth with the values of the Gospel. Our Holy Father Pope Francis invites all us to meditate around the person of Jesus, “the very first and greatest evangelizer” (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 7), under the theme of ‘the mission at the heart of the Christian faith,’ in his mission Sunday message this year. He asserts that the Church is inspired and enlivened by a spirituality of constant exodus, pilgrimage, and exile. He also emphasized in his message that the Church’s role as being “missionary in nature” and that “young people are the hope of mission, quoting “There are many young people who offer their solidarity in the face of the evils of the world and engage in various forms of militancy and volunteering… How beautiful it is to see that young people are ‘street preachers’, joyfully bringing Jesus to every street, every town square and every corner of the earth!” (ibid., 106). ” “We say to all: our evangelizing zeal must spring from true holiness of life, and, as the Second Vatican Council suggests, preaching must in its turn make the preacher grow in holiness, which is nourished by prayer and above all by love for the Eucharist.” [Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, 13). The readings are from Isaiah 45:1, 4-6; the second reading is from 1Thessalonians 1:1-5; and the Gospel from Matthew 22:15-21. In the first reading God inspires the non-Jewish king to offer liberation and support to the people of God encouraging them to return to their own country to build their faith. God surprises us all innumerable ways that we may least expect. In the second reading, St. Paul boosts our faith in Jesus through thanksgiving and prayers. He assures us, “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” (1 Thes.1:5). The responsorial Psalm acclaims, “Give the Lord glory and honor.” (Ps.96:7). The Gospel points out how much we still we owe the Lord because we need to consider to give what duly belong to God. Pope Francis says in his encyclical, Evangeli Gaudium, “Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are ‘disciples; and ‘missionaries’, but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’”. (EG 120). May you have a good day. May God bless you.

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