CATECHETICAL LESSON 4:
MISSION: FINDING THE LOST SHEEP
“Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mark 9:40)
Introduction One is the community of all peoples, one is their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth. One also is their final goal--God. His providence, His manifestations of goodness, His saving design extends to all men, until that time when the elect will be united in the Holy City, the city ablaze with the glory of God, where the nations will walk in His light (Nostra Aetate 1).
The Church was founded by Jesus Christ to be the loving mother of the whole human family and the minister of its salvation. All through the centuries, therefore, whenever men have yearned for the glory of Almighty God and the eternal salvation of souls, they have naturally made the Church the special object of their devotion and concern (Ecclesiam Suam 1).“The Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel, which in its own way must penetrate the heart and mind of every person. As the Church is charged with the task of the new evangelization, the theme of mercy needs to be proposed again and again with new enthusiasm and renewed pastoral action. In our parishes, communities, associations and movements. In a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should find an oasis of mercy” (MV 12). "The Catholic missionary movements both in Christian and pagan lands have gained such force and momentum and are of such proportions as perhaps was never witnessed before in the annals of Catholic missions" (Evangelii Praecones 1). There are many things to be considered: First of all, it is to be observed that the person who had been called by God to evangelize to distant non-Christian lands had received a very great and sublime vocation. He/ She consecrates his/her life to God in order to spread His Kingdom to the farthest ends of the earth. He/She does not seek what is his/hers, but what is Christ's. He /She can apply to himself/ herself in a special way, those beautiful sayings of St. Paul: "For Christ . . . we are ambassadors." "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not walk according to the flesh." "To the weak, I became weak that I might gain the weak." He/She must, therefore, consider the country he/she is going to evangelize as a second homeland love it with due charity. Furthermore, let that person not seek any earthly advantage for his/her own country or religious Institute, but rather seek only what may help the salvation of
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CATECHETICAL MODULE 9: MISSIO AD GENTES “MISYON SA MGA BANSA”
