This year, World Mission Day is part of the final phase of the “Synod on Synodality” being held in Rome. The theme chosen by Pope Francis is “Go and invite everyone to the banquet” (Mt 22: 9).

In his message, Pope Francis gives a special meaning to World Mission Day, which is celebrated on October 20, because as the pontiff writes: “It will have to relaunch the Church towards its priority commitment, that is, the proclamation of the Gospel in the contemporary world”.
Going beyond every boundary, leaving one’s own safe spaces without getting tired or discouraged despite difficulties and obstacles, is Francis’ invitation to faithfully carry forward, as true disciples-missionaries of Christ, the mission received.
While the world proposes the various “banquets” of consumerism, selfish well-being, accumulation, and individualism  –  we read in the papal message -, the Gospel calls everyone to the eschatological banquet of the Kingdom, in which joy, justice, brotherhood and full communion with God and with others are shared.

“Taking part in the Eucharistic banquet”. Painting: Claude Boucher Chisale

Every creature is the recipient of God’s invitation to participate in his grace that transforms and saves. It is a matter of welcoming the free divine gift, and allowing oneself to be transformed by it.
In a world torn by divisions and conflicts, as Pope Francis has so often repeated, the Gospel of Christ is the gentle and strong voice that calls men and women, no one excluded, to meet, to recognize each other as brothers and sisters, to rejoice in harmony in diversity.
In fact, in the words of Saint Paul quoted by the pontiff, God wants “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4).  – Therefore – writes the Pope -, “let us never forget, in our missionary activities, that we are sent to proclaim the Gospel to all ”, and “not as someone who imposes a new obligation, but as someone who shares a joy, points to a beautiful horizon, offers a desirable banquet”
(Evangelii Gaudium, 14).

“We are sent to proclaim the Gospel to all, and… “offers a desirable banquet”. Painting: Engelbert Mveng 

The message also insists, according to the chosen theme, on the importance of taking part in the Eucharistic banquet, with an explicit invitation “to everyone, to intensify also and above all their participation in the Eucharistic celebration and prayer for the evangelizing mission of the Church”. “Daily prayer, and particularly the Eucharist – writes Francis – make us pilgrim-missionaries of hope, on the path towards endless life in God, towards the wedding banquet prepared by God for all his children”. And in this regard, the Pope insists that “we cannot approach the Eucharistic Table without allowing ourselves to be drawn into the movement of the mission which, starting from the very Heart of God, aims to reach everyone”.
The Eucharistic renewal, which many local Churches have committed to promoting in the post-Covid period, will also be fundamental to reawakening the missionary spirit in every believer.
Feeling called to express one’s faith with enthusiasm when in every Eucharist one is invited to proclaim: “We announce your death, Lord, we proclaim your resurrection, while we await your coming”.

Synodality is by definition “missionary” and, vice versa, the mission is always synodal. Illustration: Luis Henrique Alves Pinto

The conclusion of the message cannot but underline the importance of following with commitment the last phase of the synodal journey, insisting that the mission towards all requires the commitment of all.
It is therefore necessary, according to the Pope’s wish, to continue the journey towards a Church that is entirely synodal-missionary at the service of the Gospel.
Synodality is by definition “missionary” and, vice versa, the mission is always synodal. Therefore, according to the spirit that emerges from the papal message, a closer and more lively missionary cooperation is today even more urgent and necessary in the universal Church as well as in the particular Churches. (Illustration: Luis Henrique Alves Pinto)
(G.C.)