October is Mission Month.

 

The celebration of Mission Month this year has a very special meaning as we come to the end of the Year of Faith. “Faith is a gift that is given to us to be shared. It is a talent received so that it may bear fruit. It is a light that must never be hidden. It is the most important gift that has been given to us in our lives and which we cannot keep to ourselves.” (Pope Benedict XVI).

 

Mission Month, the commitment of so many missionaries to proclaim the Gospel and the witness of life of every baptized person, were recalled by Holy Father Francis before the Angelus prayer with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s square on Sunday, October 6. 

 

His words: “The month of October is dedicated in a particular way to missionaries, especially those who proclaim the Gospel despite great obstacles and have given their life; as St. Paul says to Timothy says: “So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God” (2 Tim 1:8). 

 

He said, however, that each and every one of us: ““in our own lives, every day, can give witness to Christ, with the strength of God, the strength of faith. With this strength to bear witness to Jesus Christ, to be a Christian with life, through our witness”. Recalling the Gospel of the Sunday liturgy, the Pope recalled that “Prayer is the breath of faith” and that “October is also the month of the Rosary” and “The Rosary is a school of prayer, the Rosary is a school of faith!”