MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II

FOR WORLD MISSION DAY, 1979

 To all my brothers and children in Christ.

In inaugurating my apostolic ministry on Sunday 22 October last year – a date which happily coincided with World Mission Day in the Catholic Church – I could not omit, among the primary intentions that were fervent in my mind on that solemn occasion, the reference to the ever current and urgent need for the expansion of the Kingdom of God among non-Christian peoples. In fact, addressing all the faithful scattered throughout the world, I recalled how on that day the Church prayed, meditated, and acted so that Christ’s words of life might reach all men, to be accepted by them as a message of hope, of salvation, of total liberation (“Homily for the beginning of the pontificate”, 12 October 1978: AAS 70 [1978] 947).

That thought was renewed in me as I composed the first Encyclical Letter and dealt with the theme of the Church’s mission at the service of man; and it now returns to vibrate even more insistently, in view of Mission Sunday next autumn. In this regard, it seems to me appropriate to take up and develop an affirmation that I was only able to enunciate in the aforementioned Encyclical when I wrote that “the mission is never a destruction, but a resumption of values and a new construction” (“Redemptor Hominis”, 12). Indeed, the expression can offer an adequate theme for our common reflection.

 The Mission is not the Destruction of Values

How many and what are the values present in man? I quickly recall those specific to his nature, such as life, spirituality, freedom, sociability, the ability to give and love; those coming from the cultural context in which he is located, such as language, forms of religious, ethical, artistic expression; those deriving from his commitment and from his experience in the personal sphere and in those of the family, work and social relationships.

Now it is with this world of values, more or less authentic and unequal, that the missionary in his work of evangelization comes into contact: before them he must place himself in an attitude of careful and respectful reflection, taking care never to suffocate, but to save and to develop these assets accumulated over centuries of tradition. It is necessary to recognize the constant study which inspires missionary work and must inspire it in accepting these values of the world in which it is practiced: the basic attitude in those who bring the good news of the Gospel to the peoples is to propose, and not already to impose the Christian truth.

This is required above all by the dignity of the human person, which the Church, following Christ’s example, has always defended against every aberrant form of coercion. In fact, freedom is a fundamental and inalienable presupposition of this dignity (cf. “Dignitatis Humanae”, 2). This is also required by the very nature of faith, which can only arise from a free assent (cf. “Dignitatis Humanae”, 2).

Respect for man and esteem “for what he himself has elaborated in the depths of his spirit regarding the deepest and most important problems” (Redemptor Hominis, 12), remains basic principles for every right missionary activity, understood as prudent, timely, industrious evangelical sowing, not as the eradication of what, being authentically human, has an intrinsic and positive value.

The Mission is a Resumption of Values

“The new Churches – reads the Decree “Ad Gentes” – from the customs and traditions, from the knowledge and culture, from the arts and science of their peoples know how to derive all the elements that are useful for giving glory to the Creator, for putting light the grace of the Savior and to organize the Christian life well” (“Ad Gentes”, 22). Therefore, evangelizing action must aim at highlighting and developing what is valid and healthy in the man being evangelized, as well as in the socio-cultural context to which he belongs. With a careful and discreet method of education (in the etymological sense of “bringing out”), it will bring out and mature, after having purified them from the encrustations and sediments accumulated over time, the authentic values of spirituality, religiosity, charity which,

Making her own “the wealth of the nations which have been assigned to Christ as an inheritance” (“Ad Gentes”, 22), and illuminating with the words of the Master that sum of customs, traditions, and conceptions which constitute the spiritual patrimony of peoples, the Church it will thus contribute to the construction of a new and universal civilization which, without altering the physiognomy and typical aspects of the different ethnic-social contexts, will draw its perfection from acquiring the highest evangelical contents. Isn’t this perhaps the testimony that comes to us from many mission countries (I am thinking, for example, of the Churches of Africa), where the strength of the Gospel freely and consciously accepted, far from nullifying it, has strengthened the tendencies and the best aspects of local cultures and fostered their further development?

«The Gospel of Christ – the Council recalls again in a beautiful page of the constitution “Gaudium et Spes” – continually renews the life and culture of fallen man, fights and removes the errors and evils deriving from the ever-threatening seduction of sin. It continually purifies and elevates the morality of the people. With the supernatural wealth that is fruitful from within, it strengthens, completes ,and restores in Christ the spiritual qualities and gifts of each people. In this way, the Church, fulfilling her mission, already with this stimulates and makes her contribution to human and civil culture … »(« Gaudium et Spes », 58).

The Mission is a New Construction

The evangelizing action, aiming to transform every human creature “from within”, introduces into consciences a renewing leaven, capable of “reaching and almost upsetting through the power of the Gospel the criteria of judgment, determining values, points of interest, the lines of thought, the sources of inspiration and the models of life of humanity, which are in contrast with the Word of God and with the plan of salvation” (Paul VI, “Evangelii Nuntiandi”, 19). Urged by this inner drive, the individual is led to become increasingly aware of his reality as a “Christian”, that is, of the dignity that belongs to him as a human being, created in the image and likeness of God, ennobled in his very nature by event of the Incarnation of the Word, destined for an ideal of a higher life.

Here we find the foundations of that “Christian humanism” in which natural values are combined with those of Revelation: the grace of divine adoptive filiation, of fraternity with Christ, of the sanctifying action of the Spirit.

It then becomes possible for the birth of the “new creature”, rich at the same time in human and divine values: here is the “new man”, raised to a transcendent dimension, from which he draws the indispensable help to dominate the passions and to practice the more arduous virtues, such as forgiveness and love of neighbor, having become a brother.

Raised in the school of the Gospel, the “new man” feels the commitment to be a supporter of justice, charity, and peace in the socio-political context to which he belongs, and becomes the architect or, at least, a collaborator of that “new civilization which has its “magna carta” in the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, it appears clear that the renewal promoted by evangelizing activity, although essentially spiritual, goes straight to the heart of the serious and pressing question of injustices and economic and social imbalances which torment so much of humanity and can contribute to its solution. In short, evangelization and human promotion, while remaining clearly distinct (cf. Paul VI, “Evangelii Nuntiandi”, 35), are connected to each other in an indissoluble link, which significantly finds its welding in the highest Christian virtue: charity “Where the Gospel arrives, charity arrives”, my predecessor Paul VI affirmed in his “Message for Mission Day” of 1970.

And in fact, the missionaries have never failed in this fundamental commitment, always striving to integrate their specific service “pro causa salutis” with decisive and constructive action for development. A splendid demonstration of this is the flowering, in all mission countries, of schools, hospitals, institutes, which are accompanied by a whole series of initiatives in the technical, welfare and cultural fields, which are the result of hard personal sacrifices by the missionaries themselves, like the hidden renunciations of many of their brothers who reside elsewhere.

By building up the new humanity, permeated by the Spirit of Christ, missionary activity presents itself, at the same time, as the suitable and effective instrument for solving many of the ills of the contemporary world: injustice, oppression, marginalization, exploitation, loneliness. It is a work – as everyone sees – immense and exalting, to which every Christian is called to make his own contribution.

 Cooperation and the Pontifical Mission Societies

In reality, the spreading of the message of salvation, far from being the prerogative of missionaries, is a grave duty incumbent on all the People of God, as the Council authoritatively recalled: “All the faithful, as members of the living Christ, they have a strict obligation to cooperate in the expansion… of his Body” (“Ad Gentes”, 36). On this duty, therefore, I cannot fail to dwell at the conclusion of these words of mine.

Those who, having received the gift of faith, enjoy Christ’s teachings and participate in the sacraments of his Church, precisely by virtue of the commandment of love and – I would say – through the solidarity of charity, cannot ignore the millions of brothers, which the Good News has not yet been brought. They must participate in missionary action, above all, with prayer and with the offering of their own sufferings: this is the most effective way of collaboration since, precisely through Calvary and the cross, Christ brought his redemptive work. They must then support it with generous concrete aid because in mission lands the material needs are immense and innumerable. Such aids, collected through the Pontifical Mission Societies – the central and official organ of the Holy See for missionary animation and cooperation – will subsequently be distributed, according to justice and opportunity, among the young Churches. “First place must be reserved for these Works”, warns the Council, “because they constitute as many means for instilling in Catholics, from an early age, a truly universal and missionary spirit…” (Ad Gentes, 38). It is they that ensure efficient coordination in the global vision of expectations and requests; it is from them that the capillary network of missionary charity branches out. But their raison d’être is not reduced only to an organizational function; actually, they are called to exercise an active role of mediation and inter-ecclesial communication, fostering frequent and fraternal contact between the various local Churches, between those of ancient Christian tradition and those of recent foundation. And this is a much higher function, because it directly reflects and promotes the circulation of charity.

Expressing heartfelt gratitude from now on to those who will welcome this message with an open heart, I invoke the fullness of heavenly favors on my venerable brothers in the episcopate, on their diocesan communities, as and above all on individual Missionaries and on their Institutes, while in pledge of mindful affection to all I impart the apostolic blessing.

June 14, 1979

JOHN PAUL II

 

Credit: Dicastery for Communication, to the Holy See