ANGELUS: World Mission Sunday

(October 20,2008) After the solemn Eucharistic celebration and the traditional Supplication of the Madonna of Pompeii, Pope Benedict XVI recited the traditional Sunday Angelus from Pompeii and gave his Sunday reflections to the People assembled and also to the people waiting in Rome and other parts of the world. The Holy Father began especially praying for the ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops that is taking place in Rome and that has “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church” as its theme, that it might bear the fruit of authentic renewal in every Christian community.Recalling the Mission Sunday the Pope said: “Another special prayer intention is offered to us by World Mission Day, which in this Pauline Year proposes for our meditation these celebrated words of the Apostle of the Gentiles: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” In the month of October, continued the Pope, “the month of missions and of the rosary, many faithful and many communities offer the holy rosary for missionaries and for evangelization. This gives me the opportunity to emphasize with greater insistence that prayer is the first missionary duty of each one of us. It is first of all through prayer that the way for the Gospel is prepared; it is through prayer that hearts are opened to the mystery of God and that souls are disposed to receive his Word of salvation,” he said. Pope Benedict then made the mention of the beatification of Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin, the parents of Thérèse of the Child Jesus, in Lisieux, France and St Therese is the Patroness of the missions. Through their prayer and their evangelical witness St. Therese’s parents accompanied and shared the journey of their daughter, who was called by the Lord to unconditionally consecrate herself to him within the walls of Carmel, said the Pope. Speaking in French he said: “On this World Mission Day, we especially join with the pilgrims gathered in Lisieux for the beatification of Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, patroness of the missions. They proclaimed the Gospel of Christ through their exemplary married life.” At the same time the Pope said he had another intention that is close to his heart: the family, whose role is fundamental in nurturing in their children a universal spirit, open and responsive to the world and its problems, and in forming vocations to missionary life.