Dear brothers and sisters!
For this year’s World Mission Sunday, I have chosen a theme inspired by the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke (cf. 24:13-35): “Hearts on fire, feet on the move.” Those two disciples were confused and dismayed but their encounter with Christ in the word and in the breakingof the bread sparked in them the enthusiastic desire to setout again towards Jerusalem and proclaim that the Lordhad truly risen. In the Gospel, we perceive this change in thedisciples through a few images: their hearts burned withinthem as they heard the Scriptures explained by Jesus, theireyes were opened as they recognized Him and ultimately,their feet set out on the way. By meditating on these threeimages, which mirror the journey of all missionary disciples,we can renew our zeal for evangelization in today’s world.
IN MISSIONARY ACTIVITY, THE WORD OF GOD ILLUMINES AND TRANSFORMS HEARTS
On the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the hearts of the two disciples were downcast because of the death of Jesus (cf. v. 17). Faced with the failure of the crucified Master, their hopes that He was the Messiah collapsed (cf. v. 21). Then, “as they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them” (v. 15). As when He first called the disciples, so now, amid their bewilderment, the Lord takes the initiative; approaches them and walks alongside them. Therefore, today, as then, the Risen Lord remains close to his missionary disciples and walks beside them, particularly when they feel disoriented, discouraged, fearful of the mystery of iniquity that surrounds them, when they become “foolish and slow of heart” (v. 25), men and women of little faith. As missionaries, “let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!” (Evangelii Gaudium, 86). For in the end, our mission is His and we are nothing more than his humble co-workers, “useless servants” (cf. Lk 17:10). When Jesus “…explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24:27), the hearts of the disciples thrilled, as they later confided to each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
(v. 32). Thus, Jesus is himself the living Word, who alone can make our hearts burn within us, as He enlightens and transforms them. Therefore, let us always be willing to let ourselves be accompanied by the Risen Lord; so that we can proclaim his mystery of salvation to the world with the power and wisdom that come from his Spirit. Jesus in the Eucharist is the source and summit of the mission The fact that their hearts burned for the word of God prompted the disciples of Emmaus to ask the mysterious Wayfarer to stay with them as evening drew ear. When they gathered around the table, their eyes were opened and they recognized him when: he took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them, as a sign of the multiplication of the loaves and above all that of the Eucharist, the Sacrament of the sacrifice of the cross. Yet at the very moment when they recognized Jesus, “he vanished from their sight” (Lk 24:31). Here, we can recognize an essential reality of our faith: Christ, who breaks the bread, now becomes the bread broken, shared with the disciples and consumed by them. He enters the hearts of the disciples, to make them burn all the more, which prompts them to set out immediately to share with everyone their unique experience of meeting the Risen Lord.
The risen Christ is then, both the one who breaks the bread and at the same time, the bread itself, broken for us. It follows that every issionary disciple is called to become like Jesus and in Him, through the working of the Holy Spirit, one who breaks the bread and one who is broken bread for the world. Thus, how much more so is the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, which is Christ himself, a work of mission par excellence, since the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church? As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out: “We cannot keep to ourselves the love we celebrate in the Sacrament [of the Eucharist], the Eucharist is therefore, not only the source and summit of the life of the Church; it is also the source and summit of her mission: ‘An authentically Eucharistic Church is a missionary Church’” Sacramentum Caritatis, 84). May our hearts always yearn for the company of Jesus, echoing the ardent plea of the two disciples of Emmaus, especially in the evening hours: “Stay with us, Lord!” (cf. Lk 24:29).
THE ETERNAL YOUTH OF A CHURCH THAT IS ALWAYS GOING FORTH.
After their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus “in the breaking of the bread”, the disciples “set out without delay and returned to Jerusalem.” (cf. Lk 24:33). This setting out in haste, to share with others the joy of meeting the Lord, demonstrates that “the joy of the Gospel fills the heart and the whole life of those who meet Jesus. Those who allow themselves to be saved by him are freed from sin, sadness, inner emptiness and isolation. With Jesus Christ, joy is always born and reborn” (Evangelii Gaudium, 1). Therefore, the primary and principal resource of the mission are those persons who have come to know the risen Christ in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, who carry His fire in their hearts and His light in their gaze.
They can bear witness to the life that never dies, even in the most difficult of situations and in the darkest of moments. As the Apostle Paul confirms that the love of Christ captivates and impels us (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). This love is two-fold: the love of Christ for us, which calls forth, inspires and arouses our love for him. A love that makes the Church, constantly setting out anew, ever young. For all her members are entrusted with the mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, in the conviction that “he died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (v. 15).
All of us can contribute to this missionary movement: with our prayers and activities, with material offerings and the offering of our sufferings and with our personal witness. The urgency of the Church’s missionary activity naturally calls for an ever closer missionary cooperation on the part of all her members and at every level. This is an essential goal of the synodal journey that the Church has undertaken, guided by the keywords: communion, participation, mission. This journey is a process of setting out on the way and like the disciples of Emmaus, listening to the risen Lord. For he always comes among us to explain the meaning of the Scriptures and to break bread for us, so that we can by the power of the Holy Spirit, carry out His mission in the world. So, let us set out once more, illumined by our encounter with the risen Lord and prompted by His Spirit. Let us set out again with burning hearts, with our eyes open and our feet in motion. Let us set out to make other hearts burn with the word of God, to open the eyes of others to Jesus in the Eucharist and to invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God, in Christ, has bestowed upon all humanity. Our Lady of the Way, Mother of Christ’s missionary disciples and Queen of Missions, pray for us!
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 6 January 2023, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
FRANCIS
