Mission Sunday Message and Solomon’s Message

From“ Mission Sunday” 2011 Message 

The beneficiaries of the Gospel proclamation are all peoples. The Church “is missionary by her very nature, since it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her origin, in accordance with the decree of God the Father” (Vat 2 Decr. Ad Gentes, 2). This is “the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize” (Paul VI, Ap. Ex. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14). Consequently, she can never withdraw into herself. She is rooted in particular places in order to go beyond them. Her action, in obedience to Christ’s command and under the influence of his grace and his love, becomes fully and truly present to all men and women and to all peoples in order to lead them to faith in Christ

This task has not lost any of its urgency. Indeed, “the mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion…. An overall view of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning and that we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service”(John Paul II, Enc. Redemptoris Missio, 1). We cannot be content when we consider that, after two thousand years, there are still peoples who do not know Christ and have not yet heard his Message of salvation.

Not only this: but there is an ever greater number of people who, although having received the proclamation of the Gospel, have forgotten it or abandoned it and no longer associate with the Church; and many sectors, even in traditionally Christian societies, are today reluctant to open to the word of faith. Cultures are changing, nourished also by globalisation, by movements of thought and by the prevailing relativism, a change that leads to a mentality and a life-style that disregard the gospel Message, as if God did not exist, and that exalt the search for well-being, easy money, a career and success as the aim of life, even to the detriment of moral values.

The Meaning of Solomon’s Prayer: The Moral Responsibility of those in Government
VIS 20110725

At Castelgandolfo the Pope explained the meaning of Solomon’s prayer. “We know that ‘heart’ in the Bible indicates not just a part of the body but the core of the individual, the seat of his intentions and judgments; in other words, his conscience. An ‘understanding heart’ means, then, a conscience capable of listening, sensitive to the voice of truth and thus able to distinguish good from evil. In Solomon’s case the request is motivated by his responsibility for guiding a nation, Israel, the people whom God chose to reveal His plan of salvation to the world. The king of Israel must, then, seek constant harmony with God and listen to His Word, in order to guide the people along the ways of the Lord, the way of justice and peace.

Solomon the Wise: - amalku.blogspot.com

“However”, the Holy Father added, “the example of Solomon applies to us all. Each of us has a conscience which makes us, in a certain sense, ‘king’; in other words, which enables us to exercise the supreme human dignity of acting according to right conscience, doing good and avoiding evil. Moral conscience presupposes a capacity to listen to the voice of truth, humbly to follow its guidance. People called to play a role in government naturally have a further responsibility and, as Solomon teaches, have even greater need of God’s help.

“But everyone has their part to play in their own particular situation. An erroneous mentality suggests that we should ask God for favours or favourable conditions. Yet the truth is that the real quality of our lives, and of social life in general, depends on the sound conscience of each individual, on the capacity of each person to recognise what is good, distinguish it from evil and patiently seek to put it into effect”.

“May the Virgin Mary help us, with God’s grace, to make out own consciences open to truth and sensitive to justice, in order to serve the Kingdom of God”.