Burning Hearts, Walking Feet: Doing Mission in October

For this year’s World Mission Day, Pope Francis has chosen a theme inspired by the account of the disciples of Emmaus in Luke’s Gospel (cf. 24:13-35): “Burning Hearts, Feet on the Way.” Through the experience of these two disciples who, in their encounter with the risen Christ, are transformed into active missionaries, Pope Francis first recalls the value of the Word of God for the lives of the baptized: “Knowledge of Scripture is important for the life of the Christian, and even more so for the proclamation of Christ and his Gospel.””Jesus in fact is the living Word, who alone can set the heart on fire, enlighten it and transform it.” In a second passage of his message, the pope stresses to us the importance of the Eucharist: “We need to remember that a simple breaking of material bread with the hungry in the name of Christ is already a missionary Christian act. All the more the breaking of the Eucharistic Bread that is Christ himself is the missionary action par excellence, because the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Church’s life and mission.” Lastly, the Pope reminds us of the importance of keeping the mission alive with each person’s commitment and prayer for missionary vocations: “The image of ‘feet on the road’ reminds us once again of the perennial validity of the missio ad gentes, the mission given to the Church by the risen Lord to evangelize every person and every people to the ends of the earth.”

To get the Missionary October materials click here: aquíottobre-missionario-2023