HEARTS ON FIRE, FEET ON THE MOVE
The month of October is the month of Our Lady, the Queen of Rosary. It is also the month of Missions; we pray for and support Catholic missionaries and missions and celebrate the World Mission Sunday on penultimate Sunday of October. This year, it will be observed on October 22 and the theme that Pope Francis chose for the 2023 celebration of the Mission Sunday are words inspired by the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus after Jesus’ resurrection, in the Gospel of Luke (cf. 24:13-35): “Hearts on fire, feet on the move”.
The Gospel relates how the disciples’ hearts “burned within them” as Jesus explained the Scriptures and how they recognized him as he broke bread with them, and they set off to share the Good News with others. “By meditating on these three images, which reflect the journey of all missionary disciples, we can renew our zeal for evangelization in today’s world,” writes Pope Francis in his Message for World Mission Day 2023. Indeed, these two disciples who met Jesus along their trek can inspire us today as we strive to become more committed missionary disciples – and especially at this time when our Archdiocese experiences implementation of the Synod. It is by attentively listening to and contemplating the word of God and by being strengthened by the holy Eucharist in the community of the Church that we are able to find proper ways to go out, “feet on the move”, and share the Gospel with the world that the Lord is sending us into.
Myself, being member of a missionary religious congregation, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, I am definitely inspired by numerous stories of my brother oblates that work in different parts of the world: Madagascar, Ghana, China, Brazil, Belarus and many more. They and their coworkers try to live the ideal set by our Founder, St. Eugene de Mazenod, as stated in the OMI Constitutions and Rules: “We are a missionary Congregation. Our principal service in the Church is to proclaim Christ and his Kingdom to the most abandoned. We preach the Gospel among people who have not yet received it and help them see their own values in its light. Where the Church is already established, our commitment is to those groups it touches least” (OMI Constitution 5).
Last fall, the Congregation held General Chapter in Rome, reflecting on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope in Communion”; new Superior General was elected, Fr. Luis Ignacio Rois Alonso, O.M.I., himself being a missionary in West Sahara, Africa. As priests, brothers, sisters, lay associates and all disciples of Christ, we want to renew our missionary zeal and fulfill our mission, walking together in communion, being pilgrims and prophets of hope – as the disciples traveling to Emaus and encountering risen Jesus, then becoming messengers of good news to others.
When visiting Ukraine this June, I witnessed a lot of hope and faith in those people who have been experiencing immense evil of war in their country for as long as 1.5 years already. They are relentless and dedicated missionaries, priests and lay faithful in parishes where they offer services to the victims of war, continuing to be pilgrims of hope. They are young and elderly men and women who are refugees but do not loose hope, trusting the Lord will deliver them; they are warriors who fight for their freedom on frontlines and who pray every day to God in whom they find refuge and consolation, seeing how much evil is brought about by war which is not what God intends. My impressions of life and Church missionary work in that war-torn country were both disheartening and bringing hope, when I saw the faith and courage in many hearts.
Meditating on the missionary mandate of the Church in the month of October, let us invoke the intercession of Mary Immaculate, whose heart is set on fire to fulfill God’s will and whose feet were always on the move to bring Jesus to the world: “Our Lady of the Way, Mother of Christ’s missionary disciples and Queen of Missions, pray for us!”
Fr. Cyprian Czop, O.M.I.