Our rector reflects on this year's theme:
In its account of the call of the disciples, the
Gospel of Mark states that Jesus “appointed twelve [whom he also named
apostles] that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach”
(3,14). Regarding missions, saint Francis writes in the earlier Rule that the
friars should be “subject to every human creature for God’s sake… [and that
they should] proclaim the word of God when they see that it pleases the Lord.”
Mission is born out of a deep relationship with
Christ. The first form of evangelization is to witness through one’s own life.
Pope Paul VI, in a talk given in 1974, said, “modern man listens more willingly
to witnesses than to teachers and, if he does listen to teachers, it is because
they are witnesses… It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life
that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living
witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus- the witness of poverty and detachment,
of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of
sanctity.”
It is in this perspective that our fraternity this
year has embarked on a journey of formation. Moved by our desire to meet
Christ, guided by the Word and sustained by the witness of our brothers we want
to “become men of mission,” to announce the Lord where He is not yet known.
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