MISSION

Nowadays lots of groups speak of their mission. In hospitals, in hotels in banks or in public service offices it is quite common to see a plaque with a Mission Statement. This sets out the primary objective of the group or organization, what they want to attain and achieve.

In the community of faith our mission is to evangelize. That means to give witness to and proclaim the Good News which Jesus has shared with us. The Good News is that God is the source of life, that God loves all humankind, that God is merciful and forgiving and offers the grace of salvation to all people.

The Church is the community of believers who through their baptism became members of the community of faith. The primary purpose of the Church is to evangelize. To put that in another way – unless the Church evangelizes then its very existence has to be called into question.

Evangelization happens in a whole lot of ways. We are familiar with the more public expressions of it – the celebration of the sacraments, the solemn novenas, the parish missions, the overseas missions, the activities of organized groups who work in family or youth ministry, the charitable organizations who do so much to relieve poverty and suffering and so on.

Perhaps it is worth recalling that that we can evangelize in whatever circumstances we find ourselves – at home, at school, in the workplace, in our neighbourhoods, in our dealings with people. Pope Paul VI wrote once – ´´ To evangelize is first of all to bear witness, in a simple and direct way to God´´.

Let us never underestimate our ability to evangelize or, indeed, the opportunities we have to make the Good News known, appreciated and accepted by people.

´Your gifts are manifold and your apostolate varied, yet all that you do is meant to advance the Church´s mission by ensuring that all aspects of life are permeated and perfected by Christ´s Spirit.´ (Pope Francis)