Mission is the life-breath of the Church. The Church came into existence as a result of the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit. The Church spreads to the ends of the earth with the mission of the apostles and subsequent disciples. Similarly, the Church grows today through mission. The moment the Church ceases to be missionary, she ceases to grow.
‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation’ (Mk 16:15). This missionary mandate is the most important command of Jesus for two reasons. First, the context of this mandate is very crucial. He gave this instruction to his disciples just before he was taken up into heavens. Therefore, we can conclude that these are the final words of Jesus on the earth. In other words, it is Jesus’ ‘Last Will’. In general, people attach great importance to the Last Will of parents, founders or great leaders as it is indicative of their greatest desire to be respected by their children or followers. If Jesus has spoken these words as his final words, we can conclude, this is the desire closest to his heart. Second, Good News is the sum total of all the commandments. While preaching good news, we are, in fact, teaching all the commandments (cf. Mt 28:19-20). In sum, all commandments are included the Good News and while preaching the Good News, all the commandments are taught. So, we can conclude that the missionary commandment is the most important commandment of Jesus.
The missionary responsibility is not limited to the so-called missionaries, rather it is the common task of the Church. The call to preach or bear witness to Jesus does not come from the priestly ordination or religious profession, instead from the sacrament of baptism. All the baptized, therefore, are missionaries. The Church teaches that ‘lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth’ (CCC, 900). The entire Church, therefore, has to be involved in the mission. It is very insightful to see that at the initial stage of the growth of the Church, the ordinary faithful did play a crucial rule in spreading the Word of God along with the apostles. A telling example can be seen in the book of Acts. The scattered faithful following the persecutions in Jerusalem went about preaching the Gospel bringing Good News to many villages in Samaria. They announced the good news, taught the people and even baptized them before they were given the Holy Spirit by the apostles (Acts 8:1-17). Ordinary Christians started the mission, whereas it was completed by the apostles. This episode teaches that preaching the Good News is the common task of the entire Church.
Bishop Prince Antony Panengadan
