Lineamenta on Mission

Lineamenta on Mission

ANIMATION AND FORMATION FOR MISSION

God calls everyone to the fullness of life and wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (Jn 10:10; Jn 14:6). He calls us to participate in His divine life, not of our own merit but of God’s grace (I Tim 2:4; Eph 1:4; I Thes 4:3). Initially for the chosen people of Israel, God’s call to salvation is for all when at a definitive time He sent His Son, Our Lord Jesus to redeem us and to make us one people in the institution of the new covenant in His blood (Rom 3:22; Jn 3:1). Our Lord Jesus did not only call His disciples to follow Him, He also transmitted His mission to them. Just as He was sent by the Father, so He sent his followers to spread His Gospel to all nations and become His witnesses to all peoples (Lk 24:47; Acts 1:8). He commissioned them to “go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to carry out everything I have commanded you” (Mt 23:19-20; Lk 24:46-48; Mk 16:15; Jn 19:26-27). Based on this mandate, the Church, or the people of God on earth, is by its very nature a people sent to evangelize all nations (Ad Gentes [AG], 5; Lumen Gentium [LG], 34). The Church is sent in mission to proclaim the Gospel of Our Lord and to be the instrument of His grace (PCP II, 104). Thus the missionary responsibility of the Church is an essential part of her nature. The Church exists because of mission and her purpose is no less than the proclamation and immediate inauguration of salvation, seen as a divine gift of spiritual and temporal liberation. Missio Dei or God’s mission to the world is manifested par excellence by Jesus Christ, who was supremely the sent one of God (Heb 3:1). Entrusting His mission to His followers, the missionary people of God is tasked to proclaim the Word of God, to enact his works of justice and compassion and to bring all to a fellowship whereby all experience the beginning of freedom of the children of God and the liberty of His full kingdom proclaimed in His word.
An animation and formation for mission necessarily has these elements: a) the knowledge and proclamation of the message (Kerygma), b) the human service of temporal liberation (Diakonia), and the building up of a fellowship understood already as a sharing in the life of God (Koinonia). All these three elements correlate with one another to point to God’s love and concern and made explicitly present in the world through a missionary activity of the Church where all of us participate because all of us received this mission from God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit through our baptism. Certainly, the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the whole People of God (AG, 35) and no believer in Christ, no institution in the Church can avoid this supreme duty to proclaim (Redemptoris Missio [RM], 3). As Christians, we must share not only the Gospel of Christ but our very selves in the witness of a holy life and in this way can be real evangelizers (1 Pet 3:15). Hence, the person evangelized goes to evangelize others (Evangelii Nuntiandi [EN], 25). Our mission of evangelization, which flows from the inner nature of mission itself, is one and the same everywhere in all situations but the variety of circumstances and culture affect our way of fulfilling our mission. Inculturation is needed and requires the “evangelizers to immerse themselves in the cultural milieu of those to whom they are sent”(PCP II, 206). As John Paul II pointed out, our basic missionary attitude before a people and its culture is respect (Redemptor Hominis [RH], 12).
In the local Church of the Diocese of San Carlos, we acknowledge the challenge of Vatican II to “send some of the better priests who offer themselves for mission”(Christus Dominus [CD], 35) and that of John Paul II who said, “There is no doubt about it: The Philippines has a special missionary vocation to proclaim the Good News, to carry the light of Christ to the Nations”(John Paul II, Address to the Asian Bishops, February 1981). The lack of personnel in this young Diocese, however, forbids us to answer the missionary call. Even if we are not involved in missionary work ad extra but we do help promote the missionary spirit in our local church through our participation in the programs and activities of the Pontifical Mission Society, the Mission Society of the Philippines and in the mission programs of the Augustinian Recollects, the Franciscans and the Carmelites.




Questions for small group discussions:

1. How can we promote and animate the missionary spirit in our Diocese?
2. How can we adapt the new methods, new fervor and expressions in our missionary activity in our Diocese?
3. How can we involve the lay people in missionary work?