Since 1926, the Church worldwide has been celebrating the so-called “Mission Sunday.” Pope Pius XI declared it a day of prayer and help for missions, particularly this year, or better, this year, when Pope Francis specifically emphasized the missionary mission of the Church; we should not pass it by without noticing.
What exactly are missions? The answer can differ, depending on the .” Still, we, we look at them. Theology will tell us that “mission is the free proclamation of the Gospel, as intelligible truth and concrete love among all peoples and in all historical situations.” Still, we are usually not very wise from mere definitions.
In essence, it is the fulfillment of the words of Jesus Christ, given to the church at His Ascension: “Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to all creation!” He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be rejected.” In the name of the fulfillment of these words of Christ, for 2000 years, the heralds of Christ’s glad tidings have been going out to those who have not yet heard of Christ and testifying to them with their lives and words about their faith and impart to them the teachings of the Church about salvation for all people.
Historically, the first missionaries were the apostles themselves, then their disciples, and after them, others and others. However, we talk about real missionaries much later, in the 16th century. When, with the development of seafaring and the conquest of new territories, religious men most often came to teach the indigenous population the truths of faith in the newly discovered and – unfortunately repeatedly also bloodily conquered – territories and, what was especially important to them, to mediate their salvation through baptism. After all, according to the teachings of the faith valid at the time, “a heathen cannot be saved.” The intentions of the missionaries were .” good and selfless. Still, they undoubtedly. They were soon abused by the powerful and wealthy of their time, and they often turned happy, free pagans into unhappy, unfree, enslaved Christians. This is one negative aspect of breaking into new, hitherto unexplored territories. Another is the one often brandished by anthropologists. The imposition of a more developed Christian culture at the expense of the local cultures of primitive peoples resulted in the loss of their roots and traditions and the non-acceptance of the new Christianity. Many baptized, educated, and Europeanized natives lost a common language with their fellow citizens and did not find a common language with an advanced Christian culture. We would undoubtedly find more reprehensible phenomena of missionary activity in history. Still, the goodwill and commitment of missionaries to the salvation of indigenous souls cannot be dismissed because of a negative experience. Can it be said that the spread of Christianity was something terrible? Exactly opposite!
However, let’s move through the past centuries to the present. Even today, when there are no more white spots on the world map, and the globe is woven with millions of communication networks, there are still missionaries, and missions are needed. However, the form and content of the missions have changed.
The missions are centrally organized and subordinate to Rome—specifically, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Nations. The Papal Missionary Work has a worldwide scope. This has its own National Centers headed by the National Director in the individual states. They no longer ensure the sending of missionaries to the missions, but they create material and prayer facilities to help the missions. And here is a field in which every Christian can participate.
The main task of the missions is to spread faith in Jesus Christ and to create and support local church communities, through which the people in the missions will be able to participate in the sacraments in their language and according to their, often adapted, rite. Here, I see the most significant shift compared to traditional missions in past centuries. No longer to come and bring alien teachings into the local cultural environment and, in its name, suppress and destroy what is one’s own. But to go and in a way proper to the mentality of the local people, with the help of their tradition and language and preferably their people, is to teach them the truths of faith. That is why the giant sums from the treasury of the Papal Mission Work go to the building of local seminaries and the education of their priests, who will be understandable and authentic for them. This, in my opinion, is the meaning of missionary work: to create a spiritual background from “own resources,” and through them, hand in hand, material, social, medical, and charitable help will also come. In short, to pass on faith in Christ, to strengthen and spread the actual values for their life, to ensure broad education, social and health care, and to leave everything inherent to the given culture and mentality.
Our so-called advanced, cultural world often does the exact opposite: it gives them money for weapons instead of tractors, will build Coca-Cola billboards instead of hospitals, installs economists and managers, plunders the natural wealth, and makes residents poor, not only materially, but also spiritually. And because as the pockets of the monopolies are filled, the country is poorer and poorer, he will offer them condoms as a medicine to control the birth rate. At least, this is how the operation of the so-called “International Monetary Fund” appears. The already mentioned “Pope Missionary Work” offers a better and more effective weapon of the most potent caliber and reach: Love, selfless help, and prayer. After all, today’s collection also serves this help, and the Sunday of prayers for missions also encourages us to do this help.
